Days of a Valinorean healer
by Nuredhel
Summary: Being a healer in Valinor brings a whole new set of challenges for Elrond, some really great ones and some not so great, but all in all, he didnt expect half of what he is getting...
1. Chapter 1

Days of a valinorean healer

 **Chapter one: There's no business like puke business….**

Elrond was sitting by the window, looking out at the small herbal garden he kept at his small hospital, he was not pleased with it this summer. Many of the herbs were not growing as they should and he blamed the unusually warm spring. There was a lack of fresh water in many places and the farmers were in despair. The valar were busy trying to fix the problem but to no prevail. He had a few moments off and this day had been a busy one with a fractured leg, two broken teeth which had to be pulled and a toddler with a diaper rash. It was unusual with such problems since elves normally don't get sick but that one kid proved to have a very sensitive skin, and the mother had used a rather rough fabric so maybe it wasn't odd after all.

His assistant and his apprentices were off to lunch and Elrond was saving some room for his wife's stew, he knew she was making stew that evening and it was normally very delicious. To say that the rest of Celebrian's cooking was delicious would be one very fat lie. She was a very good seamstress and extremely gifted at embroidery but cooking? Nope, she could make stew, and that was it. But now he sat there thinking of the one thing she did know how to make and his stomach was rumbling. Two hours left before he went home for the day and he hoped it would be two very peaceful hours, nobody had asked for a consultation and so only people with an acute problem would seek him out then. He sighed and concentrated on the papers on his little desk, an essay about the healing of spiral fractures written by some dork who hadn't seen a fracture in his entire eternal life. Elrond was reading it simply for his own entertainment, he had been laughing a few times already and was chuckling lightly when his assistant came over and knocked on the door. "My lord, you have a patient"

Elrond got up, amazing, thank you and goodbye to the peaceful hours he had looked forwards to enjoying. " What sort of patient?"

The assistant smiled, a rather shy smile. The young ellon had applied for the job because of his parents who saw the job as a healers assistant as a truly noble call. Unfortunately the young one didn't have the stomach to handle anything more bloody than a hangnail. So Elrond had given him a sort of desk job, he was a secretary and did the paperwork most of the time, and that suited him just fine. "A mother with an elfling, the kid is puking"

Elrond smiled, oh, a simple case. Five minutes and he would be back to the essay, great. Many suffered from nausea these days since it was so hot and not all realized that even elves need to drink in the heat to stay hydrated. He followed the assistant out to the examination room where a very lovely elleth of vanyar origin sat with an almost angelic looking elfling on her lap. The kid had thick golden hair and bright blue eyes and he was plump and cute. The mother was feeding him well , Elrond could see that. The elleth smiled, and Elrond straightened himself up, he wanted to impress this one, if she spoke well of him he would get more patients. Elrond had started wearing some white robes while on the job and he had tied his hair back into a nice braid, he had discovered that the patients felt more safe when he did look clean and a bit strict. The robes were shiny white and elegant although very simple and he wore no jewelry. The young elleth wore little jewelry too, but that was normal for the vanyar, they wore their famous golden hair as jewelry and this one had her hair braided up into an intricate pattern of thin braids which formed almost a sort of web around her head and showed off her long swanlike neck. The kid wore only a pair of diapers and a thin tunic and he was squirming on her lap and sucking his thumb. "So, the little angel is throwing up?"

The elleth nodded, she had a faint blush over her cheekbones and she looked a bit apologetic. " Yes, he threw up twice this morning and my mother in law insisted that I go see a healer, she is…a bit hard to resist"

Elrond had to grin to himself, oh yes, he knew everything about demanding in laws. "So he hasn't puked after that?"

She shook her head. "No, but he has eaten again, so I guess he is alright now?"

Elrond smiled his most gentle smile, he loved elflings and this one was adorable. " I will have to check up on him of course, but I am pretty sure that he is fine since he haven't puked again, have he been drinking as he should?"

The mother sent him yet another apologetic smile. "I am afraid not my lord, he is a bit …difficult and the only thing he likes to drink these days is pineapple juice and that is not easy to come by now"

Elrond nodded and put a hand on the toddlers forehead, the kid looked up at him with an adorable smile and he had to admit that he rarely had seen a more lovely child anywhere. "Well, try to tempt him with moshed watermelon, mixed with crushed ice. Most kids love that"

The elleth did lighten up. "Thank you my lord, oh why didn't I think of that too. "

Elrond got the impression that this was one very stressed out young thing, and he had the greatest sympathy for her. He smiled to the kid. "No fever, and he does look rather happy now doesn't he?"

He tickled the kid on his chin and the elfling giggled and squirmed, adorable little one. Elrond grasped the kid gently to put him on the examination table, just so the mother saw that he indeed did something and that was when it struck, like a thunderbolt from the skies. The toddler smiled widely and opened his mouth and spewed! And Elrond had seen puke before, a lot in fact but never projectile vomiting like that. The first beam of greenish liquid hit him square in the chest and the kid lifted his head slightly so the rest reached the healer in the face. And then the kid squirmed and turned his neck and his mother got the last of it all over her hairdo. Elrond couldn't let go, he put the kid down on the table and the child burped and then it puked again, a veritable fountain which covered the table, and its surroundings with a thin layer of greenish stinking puke.

The mother was gasping, her eyes large as puke ran down her face and Elrond knew that his robes were no longer white, they looked more like at attempt at creating non figurative art using a dirty green color. What in Eru's name had that kid been eating? He felt the disgusting liquid running down his face and he was glad he had closed his mouth and his eyes. He wiped it off his face with his sleeve and the kid giggled and released yet another flood of filth. How could a toddler contain this much of the devilish substance? The mother was gasping for air, and Elrond knew she was getting hysterical so there was just one thing to do. He called for his assistant since the apprentices hadn't returned yet. "Calorno, please, take this lady to the bath, she needs to get cleaned up"

Calorno entered the room, saw the mayhem and turned around on his heel as if he had discovered that Morgoth stood in the corner, wielding his great hammer. Elrond heard the unmistakable sounds of retching and shook his head, great, he had to do it all by himself. " I will show you the way my lady, then I will deal with the puking. It is obvious that he has eaten something…rather volatile"

He carried the elfling with him to the bath and the elleth was shaking all over, to shocked to be able to talk. Elrond elegantly snatched something from her hair, or rather, the goo covering it. It was some sort of chewed leaf and he sighed and smiled, knowing he looked rather peculiar covered in goo. "Do you have a garden my lady?"

The elleth looked at the pool with desperate longing, it was apparent that the idea of being covered with sick was enough to almost make her pass out. "No, but my mother in law does? How come?"

Elrond sent her a rather sardonic grin. "Well, you can tell your mother in law that she is the cause of this, she has to keep an eye on this one all the time, which she cannot have done."

He showed her the leaf. "This herb here causes nausea and intense stomach spasms, we use it to purge the stomach of people who have ingested poison by mistake. It is very efficient, as you can see"

The elleth just stared and then she went beet red and bright white. " Oh that….bitch, I am gonna have a long chat with her when I come home, a long chat indeed. She constantly claims that I am an awful mother, but apparently she has left my child unsupervised in her garden? Oh she is gonna hear it!"

Elrond just grinned and left her to clean up, then he gave the elfling some medicine to calm the stomach which the kid swallowed without complaining and he shook his head. No doubt about the mother's wrath, it would be monumental. The vanyar wives did live for their offspring and were extremely protective of them. Elrond did wash off in a bowl of water and changed his robes, the ones he had been wearing had to be burned for sure, they couldn't be cleaned. The elfling sat smiling on the table, the only one not visibly distraught by the incident and he wondered which of his apprentices he should give the honorable task of washing the entire room. It had to be done, it smelled like the bowels of hell there now and Calorno had sought refuge in the outhouse where he was bidding his breakfast a very fond farewell judging by the sounds.

The elleth managed to get the filth out of her hair and dress, and left with a hard expression within her eyes, one mother in law was getting what she deserved very soon and Elrond commanded that the apprentices were to wash the room together. All three of them joined Calorno in the outhouse several times before the job was done.

Elrond sighed, the thought of his wife's stew weren't that tempting anymore, but he had to eat, or else she would get very annoyed. Well, the day was almost over so an hour or so of reading and he would have an appetite yet again. It wasn't as if he was unaccustomed to disgusting sights and scents, he was used to almost everything. He sat down and started reading and had gotten into the right mood again when he heard the sound of a galloping horse coming from the street outside. He frowned, oh no, this sounded like some serious thing, maybe someone was injured? He got up and the horse stopped outside of his hospital and before long he did hear running feet and a tall elf wearing very nice clothes ran into the reception room. He was pale and gasping for air, it was obvious that he had been riding very hard. Elrond had managed to find a new set of white robes and looked as formidable as before and he smiled professionally. "How may I be of assistance?"

The elf grasped onto the desk and took a deep breath. "My lord Elrond, I have come from the palace of lord Ecthelion, they are celebrating the wedding of one of his friends and everybody is getting sick"

Elrond knew that the reborn hero of Gondolin did throw some extremely lavish parties and everybody wanting to be somebody had to show up there to be sure that their status was well known. "What do you mean sick? "

The elf swallowed. "They puke my lord, everybody is puking"

Elrond had to blink a few times, oh by Eru's beard! More puke? The Valar had to be laughing, this was insane. "Alright, I'll get my horse"

Before long he was riding alongside the messenger and Elrond had brought his box of instruments and equipment, hopefully this would be easily solved. The palace was not far from where he had his hospital and they rode straight into the main yard. Elrond felt the smell even before he dismounted, oh crap! A servant came staggering to take the horses and Elrond stared at the elf with narrow eyes, what the hell? Were everybody sick? He entered through the main entrance and was greeted by a sight from the apocalypse. The floors were covered with puke, elves laid everywhere and they were all very ill indeed. Most were still retching even if their stomachs were empty and Elrond grasped a thin curtain and ripped some fabric from it, used it to cover his mouth and nose. The stench was unbelievable!

Some servants ran around trying to help the sick elves and they almost slipped on the goo and one ellon fell flat on his back in a huge pool of the stuff. Elrond cringed. The host came staggering, his beautiful blue robes were heavily stained and his eyes bloodshot. Ecthelion were among the most handsome of the eldar lords but now he did look like a mess and he almost fell to his knees. "My lord Elrond, thank Eru you are here, everybody…everybody is throwing up"

Elrond had to think fast, this had to be some sort of food poisoning, nothing else could explain that everybody got sick at the same time. He tried to avoid breathing through his nose and the stew his wife had made would have to become food for the servants this evening for sure. He tried to think in a logical manner. "It has to be something everybody has been eating or drinking, have you any clue of what that may be?"

Ecthelion shrugged, he had puke all over the front of his robes and did smell rather ghastly. "No, well, everybody have gotten a welcome drink but that was just for the guests, not the servants. And the servants are just as ill as the rest of us?"

Elrond frowned, this was real detective work. " Right, something else everybody has in common here? Does the food come from one kitchen? "

Ecthelion nodded. " Yes, and we have an excellent chef and a very skilled crew so I cannot imagine them doing any sort of mistakes?"

Elrond tilted his head. "And the servants eat food made by the same kitchen? The answer lies there for sure, I cannot do anything before I know exactly what they have eaten."

Ecthelion gasped and moaned and grasped his belly. " Oh Eru, I would rather fight a balrog once more, damnation how this hurts!"

Elrond squinted, both pain and puking? That sounded serious indeed. "Show me the way, I need to see the kitchen, now!"

The lord nodded and waddled off and Elrond did pity him, the palace was a very beautiful place with lots of airy rooms and gorgeous architecture and furniture but now it had lost its charm completely. He saw one elf who had yanked a huge flower out of its pot and were puking into it and an elleth hang over a railing, puking into a pond with goldfish in it. The fish probably thought it was food! What a mayhem.

The kitchen was located in the basement under the palace and it was the cleanest place Elrond had seen in a very long time indeed, there wasn't a single grain of dust to be seen anywhere, the tiles were shining, the kettles were impeccable and the cook and his staff were wearing white uniforms without a single stain anywhere. They even wore gloves and Elrond had to stare, with a great deal of awe. You could have used the floors as a plate, they were that clean. Elrond did see that none of the staff were sick and that told him that they hadn't been eating whatever it was that had made the other elves there ill. What could that be?

The chef was in tears, the poor elf looked like a freshly washed sheet and he was sobbing. Elrond understood that this was a terrible blow to his professional pride and he just hoped that the poor elf wouldn't fade because of it. Elrond tried to look as comforting as he could. "Have any of you felt ill?"

The staff shook their heads and Elrond tried to concentrate. "Right, the others here have eaten something you haven't, any ideas?"

One of the staff members, a rather short elleth of telerin origin stepped forth. " The lord ordered for us to serve seafood, and we didn't get as much from the fish salesman as we wanted so the guests got the best of it and the servants ate the left overs"

Elrond got nervous, seafood? Now that was something which could cause real problems , he had read about some terrible effects of seafood which had gone bad. "Show me whatever you have left of it"

The chef sort of sobbed. "But the food was fine, excellent, nothing was wrong with it, it was fresh!"

Elrond smiled. "I am sure it is, but maybe it was stored alongside something which wasn't, or transported with something that could have contaminated it."

The chef looked as if he was heading for his own funeral but did get up and walked towards the storage room where the food was put before it was served. It was a new invention, a huge room with thick walls filled with blocks of ice brought south from the helcaraxe, and it was very cold. Elrond saw that only one crate was left, it didn't contain much, just some shrimp and a few lobsters which had lost their claws. Elrond picked up some shrimp, they did in fact look very fresh and the smell was normal, nothing wrong with them. And the lobsters too were nice. The chef sort of whispered. "The scallops and oysters were fine too, very fresh, just perfect"

Elrond nodded. " I do believe you, so why have everyone gotten so terribly ill?"

He could see nothing wrong with the crustaceans at all, they were as fresh as if they had been pulled out of the sea just minutes ago. This was very odd. A servant came running and he was very pale. "MY lord, some of the sick ones are having convulsions, and they have passed out too"

Elrond spun around on his heel, his eyes large. " Oh Eru, then it isn't seafood which have gone bad, it is seafood which IS bad!"

The chef looked confused. " Pardon?!"

Elrond got frantic. " I heard of it once, when I was in Lindon. Some fishermen had caught some shrimp and seashells and ate them right away, it should have been very safe but they all fell very ill and some died. The reason was that the shrimp and seashells came from an area with a certain species of algae and they get toxic if the weather turns very hot."

He grasped onto a servant who looked less ill than the others. "Fast, find out where the seafood came from!"

The ellon scooted up the stairs and Elrond grasped some bowls and some cups. Then he opened his bag and pulled out a huge box filled with a very dark and nasty looking substance. The chef stared at it with huge eyes. "What is that? It looks awful!"

Elrond nodded. " It is, but everybody has to drink a glass of it, I hope I have enough. It is a mixture of charcoal and some herbs, it will stop the poisoning and help the sick ones heal faster, but it is nasty"

The chef took a huge step backwards as Elrond poured the contents into a bowl and filled it with water, it did look like the sludge some kids make while playing with mud. The healer worked fast and before long he had a huge punch bowl filled with the goo. "Now, make sure everybody, and I mean everybody gets a cup of this, nobody gets away, got it?"

The staff nodded and carried the bowl up the stairs with some odd expressions on their faces, they weren't used to serving stuff which looked like the bottom of a firepit after a rainstorm. Elrond just hoped that it wasn't too late, but these were adult elves. If there had been elflings present things would have gotten very serious indeed He ran after the kitchen staff and the sight of him convinced the sick guests and servants that yes, they had to do it. He helped with the distribution of the charcoal mix and soon many sat there looking rather dizzy with black stains down their chin and bloodshot eyes. The servant he had sent off returned, panting like a whipped horse. " The fish salesman got it from some fishers who usually catch their fish just outside of the small islands south of Tol erresëa but due to an accident with their boat they had to catch everything on the inside of the islands, between them and Alqualonde."

Elrond made a grimace and grasped onto Ecthelion who did look a wee bit better, but no less bizarre with the black stains on his lips and his hair in sweaty ropes down his back. "Write a letter to the harbor master of Alqualonde and warn him of this danger. Nobody ought to eat anything caught in those waters until the cold weather returns."

The noldorin lord just nodded and waddled off to do what he was told to do and Elrond continued working, and it was indeed a tough job for not all would drink that black goo voluntarily. He and three other strong Ellyn had to subdue Rog and forcefeed him the stuff and he swore so bad Elrond wished he could go deaf just for a few minutes and the huge elf did spit some of the goo onto Elrond who by now looked very colorful indeed. After a couple of hours it was getting clear that the worst was over, the puking had stopped, the convulsions too and everybody was out of the dangerzone but many had a terrible stomach ache and Elrond had to prescribe both rest, certain herbs and a special diet for the lot of them. Not all were all that happy about it. Rog almost threw another tantrum when he was told that he had to lay off the booze for a month and the rest of the lords of Gondolin shared his lack of enthusiasm and made that clear with surprisingly strong arguments, and voices.

But Elrond didn't budge and he knew that the wine salesmen of Tirion and Formenos probably would blame him for a decrease in their income for the next weeks but what the heck, the health of these elves were more important than money and besides, they could all need to sober up a bit. He knew that some drank wine like others drink water, their livers would thank him in the end. When Elrond finally was done it was late and he looked horrible, his braid undone, he was covered with sick and charcoal and one of the servants had by accident spilled a bowl of some sort of shrimp based soup all over his back so now he smelled of that too. The palace would be cleaned up but it would be a task of monumental proportions and Elrond did pity the cleaners, they would need strong stomachs no doubt, in special since the weather was just as hot as it had been, if not worse.

He didn't stop by his office but rode straight home, mumbling something about the worst day of this age, and a severe lack of appetite. He didn't bathe or change, and that was with purpose. At least Celebrian would see and smell why her husband refused to eat her delicious stew. He stopped in front of their home and took a deep breath, as a healer he knew that rare cases often appeared in clusters and this had been one of those cases, one rather innocent and one not but both had puke in common. He frowned, why didn't his stable worker come to get his horse? He got down from the black gelding and put it into the stable on his own and then he entered the house and knew that no, the day was not over yet, not by far. His butler lay on a couch just inside of the entrance, and he was greener than the great greenwood. He had a bucket in front of him and it was full. In the main hall his servants and his wife were assembled, all with buckets in front of them and all very miserable and Elrond suddenly realized that the valar did love him indeed. They had spared him from a cruel fate by sending those cases in his way. Celebrian was whimpering and she was sweaty and shivering. " Oh meleth nin, I am so sorry, but we are all ill. Oh sweetness, what in all of Arda have you been doing? The smell…."

She started retching and Elrond just smiled, he had gotten so accustomed to the smell by now it didn't bother him anymore and now he had an excellent excuse for not wanting any stew. He smiled and caressed her back, he had some charcoal stacked away somewhere, it would come in handy. "Oh you know, the usual, puking nobles and puking elflings"

She rolled her eyes. "We couldn't wait with the stew Elrond, so we all ate early and now we are sick, so sick"

Elrond nodded and his smile was one of gratefulness. "Tell me my sweet, did you add some seafood to that stew today?"

Celebrian frowned. " How did you know? Yes, I did. The fish sellers at the market had some very nice scallops and I bought some and added it to the stew yes, to give it some salty flavor? Why?"

Elrond got up to get the charcoal. "Because my dear, this day isn't as terrible as I thought it would be, lay still and I will get you some medicine. Throw the rest of the stew outside"

Celebrian just looked very confused and Elrond managed to get enough medicine for everybody there, the stew was thrown onto the garbage heap behind the garden shed and nobody thought any more of it until the next morning when Elrond, refreshed and grateful that he hadn't come home in time to get food poisoning too stepped outside just to be attacked by a whole armada of very angry puking seagulls who had eaten the rest of the stew and now were out for vengeance. When the healer made it back inside he was covered with goo yet again and had to take a bath, when you think you are off the hook you are wrong most of the times and this time the valar did get the last laugh after all.


	2. Of toddlers and tragedy

Chapter two: Of toddlers and tragedy

Elrond was half asleep, the armchair he had brought into his office like a very tempting trap and now it had caught its pray, namely him. This day had been very boring to say the least, not a single patient and his wife was off to visit her mother in Tirion so there were nobody there to keep an eye on him. Napping was a good way of spending the day and lately the summer heat had caused most of the inhabitants of the blessed realm to stay indoors and stay cool. And the result of that was fewer things to do for the healers, which of course was good but also bad, since they got bored. Elrond had treated some elflings for severe mosquito bites and now he was wondering if he ought to replenish his supply of certain herbs. It could be a good idea. He was almost asleep when there was a knock on the door and he jerked and tried to look awake and alert as he shouted a loud enter to whoever it was outside of the door. He hadn't been drooling? No, great.

An ellon wearing a messenger uniform entered the office and bowed his head politely. "My lord Elrond, I am to deliver this message to you, from Formenos"

Elrond frowned, Formenos? Did he know anybody there? He didn't know of any of his regular patients who lived in that city and he took the note and smiled to the messenger, what could this be? He saw that the envelope had the eight rayed star of Fëanor on the outside and that made him tense up, was someone in that family sick? He unfolded the note and saw a short letter written in a very elegant feminine style and he swallowed. It was the lady Maedhros who required his immediate assistance regarding a very delicate problem which she couldn't describe there and then. Elrond got nervous, he remembered how she had struggled after her time in Angband, her injuries and fading health, and how she had finally died. Had her problems returned? She had a new body now but if the fëa has been injured the hröa can be affected and show physical manifestations of the trauma. He stared at the messenger. "You may ride ahead and tell the lady that I will come. I need to get packed and tell my assistants to take care of my hospital until I return, but tell her I will be there as soon as I can"

The messenger nodded and took off and Elrond took a deep breath. He ran off and found the assistants dozing in the sun and told them to keep the business running until his return, then he ran home and packed a few things he needed personally and then his best medical supplies and some surgical equipment as well. He then located his stable worker and told the ellon to hitch his fastest horse to the light carriage and then he bathed and had a swift meal. Formenos was a long trip to take on such short notice but he was worried. What was wrong with the lady? And why couldn't she explain her problem in the letter? It would take him a few days to get to Formenos so it couldn't be acute, if it were she would have sought the help of local healers for sure, or even the maiar of Lorien.

He got his stuff into the carriage and took the reins, the horse was a tall black gelding, the son of his favorite steed and it was very fast but a bit skittish. He let the horse have free reins as they raced through the gates and into the street and there were nobody out there to get in the way so he let the horse set the pace. He had an uneasy sensation within his guts and didn't like it at all. He drove until it got dark, then he found an inn and spent the night there before he continued the journey the next morning. He just couldn't shake the feeling of unease, there had been something about that letter, something written between the lines so to speak, and he was very curious as to what it had been.

He used five days to Formenos and by the time he got there his horse was very tired and so was he. They had travelled very fast and Elrond promised the gelding that he would be allowed to rest before they returned home. He found an inn and bathed and made himself presentable before he took his box of equipment and walked to the royal palace. Some guards stood outside and he knew that there still were those who resented the family of Finwë's firstborn son and wanted to harm them. He told them who he was and why he was there and a servant bid him wait for a few moments. He admired the nice architecture of the buildings when the servant returned and told him to follow. He felt tense, he would find out why he was summoned soon. They walked through a veritable labyrinth of halls and corridors and in the end they reached a small enclosed garden at the back of the palace, it was very nice and cool and Elrond almost collided with the servant when he suddenly stopped without a warning. "My lord, she is waiting for you by the fountain, just go straight ahead"

Elrond nodded and walked forth, a little uncertain. He could see that someone indeed was sitting by the fountain in a hammock and he frowned. Was there two people there? He took a few steps more and then he saw that it indeed was Maedhros and beside her he saw an elfling of perhaps one or two years of age. He blinked, he hadn't heard of her being married or having given birth? Then it struck him, the elfling sitting there was darker than her, and his eyes were pitch black and Elrond recognized them. For a moment he was back in the first age, watching how that feared warrior dragged her off as a hostage and he remembered the fear and the rage in those cold eyes. He almost let out a yelp, had Rûsa been reborn?! Oh no wonder then that she wanted to keep it a secret. He was after all a bastard, baseborn and conceived in Angband. The scandal would be monumental if certain people did find out that the daughter of Fëanor had been forced to become a breeding slave for Morgoth. The elfling whispered something and she smiled, then she turned her head and saw Elrond and she smiled even wider and got up. He grasped her hand and kissed it politely. It felt odd standing there face to face with her again, she was just as tall as before and towered above even him, and now he did see why everybody had claimed that she had been the most beautiful of ellith before the darkening and the wars.

She smiled and gestured for him to sit down and the elfling sort of hid behind her, the eyes were apprehensive and nervous and he did recognize the odd V shaped scar on his cheek. "You called for me my lady?"

Maedhros nodded. " I did, you know what I went through before my death, and you do also know of my son. He is reborn as you can see, but he isn't growing as he should."

Elrond took a swift peek at the child, she was right, he was rather puny looking and even the dark skin was pale. " I see, is he returned as himself or as a new person?"

Sometimes elves who were to be reborn preferred to have all their memories erased to start with a new life. She smiled, a very melancholic smile. "He remembers, he is an adult, but in a toddlers body as of yet."

Elrond saw that the elfling was shivering and he sort of realized that this could get interesting indeed. Rûsa had been the wargrider, one of Morgoths most feared war lords and he had of course gotten injured many times over his lifetime, and the healers of Angband were not known for having been gentle nor skilled. Elrond tried to be professional but it was unnerving to see those black eyes stare at him, had he really changed enough to deserve a second chance? " I can see why you are concerned my lady, and I assure you, I will do my outmost to determine if this is some effect of his previous life or some current problem."

She smiled and caressed the elflings dark red locks and the healer clearly saw the motherly love behind that gesture. If someone dared to mess with her offspring Elrond was pretty sure she would come out as a true lioness with claws and fangs. " I am glad my lord, he is eating and has quite an appetite but he isn't putting on weight and he is rather lethargic at times"

Elrond smiled and tried to see this elfling as any other child and not a former enemy. Rûsa looked terrified and Elrond's compassion won over his resentment. He gave the toddler his most gentle smile and turned to the mother. " I will have to examine him, is there a room here where we can do that?"

Maedhros got to her feet gracefully and smiled. "Just follow me"

Rûsa seemed to be ready to bolt, he was shivering visibly and Maedhros grasped him and lifted him up, he was indeed very small and looked even smaller in the arms of his exceedingly tall mother. Maedhros walked in front of him into a small apartment where she entered a very open and airy room with a few benches and a basin with water placed on a table. She tilted her head. "Is this acceptable?"

He nodded and put his box down, opened it and then the elfling sort of let out a wail and started squirming like a worm on a hook. He was obviously terrified and Maedhros sighed. "Darling, please calm down, or else Elrond won't be able to check you over"

Rûsa was wide eyed and panic was visible on his tiny face. " I don't want to, let go of me!"

Elrond tried to remain calm. "Don't worry Rûsa, I won't hurt you, I promise"

The elfling just squirmed even worse and Elrond tried to lift him out of his mother's arms and onto a bench but was rewarded with a rather impressive head butt. If Rûsa had been an adult it would have knocked Elrond out but now it only hurt a bit, and the elfling started squealing and fighting like mad. Maedhros looked as if she was in despair and held onto the screaming elfling with firm hands and Rûsa revealed that he had a vocabulary of cuss words so impressive it would have made even a dwarf blush, he even cussed in black speech and Elrond was starting to sweat.

Getting the tunic off the elfling proved to be a huge challenge for Rûsa tried to bite and kick and not even Maedhros managed to calm him down. Listening to his heart was tough to say the least since he had a heartrate that would have impressed a hummingbird and he was sweating so he was slick all over. Feeling his joints was a little easier since he was moving a lot and Maedhros had sat down and was pinning him to her own upper body in spite of him kicking and spitting.

Elrond did see that the elfling was rather healthy in every way but he was as she said very puny and underweight too. You could see every rib and every bone and Elrond was a bit intrigued by it. "Is he doing his business as he should?"

Maedhros frowned. "Business?"

Elrond felt an urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, does he poop normally? No diarrhea or constipation?"

Rûsa did understand and started adding certain shitty descriptions to his swearing. Maedhros was almost in tears, he was strong in spite of his size and he hadn't stopped squirming. "Calm down, Elrond is just trying to help you!"

Rûsa growled. " I don't want any fucking help, let go of me!"

Elrond managed to get a good feel of his belly, it seemed to be normal too and he tried to understand what this could be. The body a reborn elf got was always perfect, but the fëa could corrupt it so this had to be something which affected his soul and through that his body. "You say he has a good appetite?"

Maedhros nodded and avoided being head butted by her own son, he was desperately trying break free and Elrond knew that if he did they wouldn't be able to catch him again. "Yes, he will eat anything edible, I have to keep an eye on him all the time so he doesn't eat things which are inedible. A week after I got him home he did drink an entire bottle of ink and the next day he was seen in the stable, munching away at the horse's oats."

She sighed and tried to avoid that Rûsa grasped onto Elrond's braid and tugged at it. "When he came to me the entire family had to co-operate to manage the first weeks, he was almost impossible to control, and feared that everyone was out to get him, he didn't trust anyone at all and tried to hide all the time. It was very tiring to say the least"

Elrond did notice that the elfling did have strong muscles in spite of his skinny appearance and he started to suspect that this indeed was linked to his previous life. " Does he eat fruit and vegetables?"

He knew that such things were rare in Angband and only a few had access to such luxury. He strongly doubted that Rûsa had been among those so favored. Maedhros managed to smile and avoided being bitten again. It was very obvious that the toddler thought that every healer was like the ones he had been used to, brutal and often sadistic. " Oh he eats a lot of that, he loves fruit, and berries too. He even eats mushrooms without complaining."

Elrond sighed, he knew what had to be done but it wouldn't be easy at all. He sat down and stared at Maedhros. "It is his soul memory, it remembers his old body and is trying to recreate it, subconsciously. It is rather clear when I look at him, he wants something familiar and so the hroa tries to adapt, to become identical to his old one."

Maedhros sighed and stroked his hair. " Oh Rûsa, why can't you forget the past?"

Elrond frowned. "It is very hard when you have lived a life like his. But there is a cure, it will just require some effort from us all"

Maedhros stared at him. "What sort of cure?"

Elrond tried to find a more comfortable position " I am talking about hypnosis, I will make him forget about his old body until he is capable of coping with his memories in a more conscious and mature manner"

Maedhros looked a bit nervous. "It is harmless?"

He nodded. "Yes, completely. And I have done it before as a matter of fact. But we have to make him cooperate"

Rûsa let out a wail and started kicking again and Elrond sighed and realized that yes, in many ways he was a typical toddler in spite of having an adult fëa. Maedhros sighed. " Easier said than done, he is convinced that all healers are trying to murder him or something like that"

Elrond got up and opened the box, he pulled out a small bottle and stared at it with narrow eyes. It was a sedative and it would make the person who drank it very relaxed and at ease, and not really asleep but close to it. The perfect state for hypnosis to work. Maedhros shook her head. " You won't make him swallow medicine, no way. Believe me, we have tried. Celegorm went an entire day with his shirt covered with goo when we tried giving Rûsa a laxative."

Elrond had uncorked the bottle very discretely. "Really? Well, I do have some tricks up my sleeve, oh look at the corner over there, is that a spider?"

Rûsa immediately reacted, he was terrified of spiders and stared towards the corner ready to bolt for real and Elrond quickly grasped his nose between two fingers, tilted his head up and poured the medicine down his throat and before he could spit it out he gave the elfling a swift punch to the chin. Rûsa swallowed by reflex and released a swarm of swear words so horrible Elrond was sure Morgoth himself would have been shocked if he had heard them. The medicine was very strong and even as he was struggling and shouting obscenities he started to blink and wobble and slowly he sank down onto his mother's lap, like a ragdoll.

Elrond let out a sigh of relief. "Great, lay him on the table here, this should work rather fast"

He waited until Rûsa lay comfortably, then he touched the toddler's forehead and using his healing powers he contacted the elfling's fëa. It was a very dark and twisted place, filled with fear and regrets and he slowly managed to sort of pack those negative feelings away and hide them in the deepest vaults of the young elf's mind. Then he brought forth the positive memories he had achieved since his rebirth and strengthened them and he also removed all memories of Rûsa's old body. Now he just remembered having one, not how it had looked. Elrond was sweating and it did take its toll on him for Rûsa's fëa was surprisingly strong and not eager to change at all but slowly he overcame the resistance and managed to bring light into the tormented mind once more. When he was done his robes were soaking and he was shivering and Rûsa had fallen asleep. Elrond straightened his back and smiled. " It is done, I think he will start growing normally now, but if he doesn't then don't hesitate to call on me again"

Maedhros ran her fingers through the dense dark locks and she was smiling. " I am very grateful my lord, if you have fixed this it is a miracle"

Elrond felt himself blush ever so slightly. " It is only my duty my lady"

Maedhros went over and hugged him swiftly. " There is none other than you I would trust with this Elrond, rest assured that this will be remembered"

Elrond tried to act professionally but it was hard when she was so obviously happy and he bowed politely. "I am very glad you called for me, and again, do not hesitate to contact me if any other problems should occur."

She smiled and picked up the sleeping toddler. " I won't, believe me. Thank you again, if you like you could stay here for a few days?"

Elrond smiled. "Thank you but I have to return to my hospital and see if it is still there, my assistants are capable of causing mayhem when I am not around"

Maedhros hugged him again with one arm and Elrond saw that the toddler was sleeping soundly now, he would be alright for sure. It would be interesting to keep an eye on that one, and see what impact it would have when he was revealed to the other elves of the realm. He was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly heard a bumping sound and heard someone cuss, rather loudly. He took a peek behind the corner and saw that it was Celebrimbor and he had tripped while walking down the stairs, he was probably recently reborn too and very clumsy because of that. Maedhros smiled widely. " He does that a lot, his legs doesn't feel like his own, Rûsa always freaks out when it happens though, he thinks Celebrimbor is hurt somehow"

Elrond had to grin too, Celebrimbor did look a bit silly as he stood there rubbing his ankle but he didn't seem to need a healer. Maedhros shook Elrond's hand and he kissed her hand again to be polite and felt that this had been a very interesting day indeed. He bowed again and returned to the inn and there he had a long bath and a massage before he slept for an entire day. The healing had really drained him a lot.

The next morning a servant arrived carrying a basket filled with fruits, very fine wine, some exquisite chocolate and at the bottom there was a box with an absolutely stunning necklace. Elrond knew that it would look spectacular on Celebrian and he was in a good mood as he prepared to return home. When he got to his carriage he was shocked to find that it had been stocked with boxes filled with rare and valuable herbs which were hard to come by and he felt a surge of gratitude. It would all be very needed indeed. He knew that he had gotten a friend when he made the horse trot along the road leading toward the gate, and he just hoped that he would be able to take a part in the life of this mysterious young elf, Rûsa did intrigue him immensely.

The sunlight shone from a sky without a single cloud and there were countless elves spending the day on the lovely beaches. Most sat in the shade of huge umbrellas or some trees but there were elflings running around playing in the shallow water. The sound of the laughter and the splashing made the adults look up and smile, remembering the feeling of being so careless and free. Some elflings were playing by a tidal pool surrounded by cliffs smoothed by the sea, the water there was rather warm and they were splashing around and playing tags in the shallows. Some adults sat on the cliffs, cleaning out some seashells for their dinner, and these were telerin elves so they were familiar with the sea. It was a part of them and everybody learned how to swim and dive before they learned to walk. The adults were pulling some nets in to the shore when they heard a piercing scream and they dropped the net immediately. The agony of the scream told them that this was serious and not just some childish prank. They ran to the pool and were stunned by the sight of two elflings laying on the sand, writhing in agony. What had happened?

Elrond had barely managed to get back home when one of his assistants came running, the ellon was short of breath and sweaty and his eyes were huge. "My lord, thank Eru you are here, we have a serious case on the way to the hospital"

Elrond had arrived from Formenos just two hours earlier and would have preferred to rest for a few hours but the tone of the assistants voice told him that rest wasn't an option. "What sort of case?"

The ellon gasped for air. "Two elflings my lord, they were bathing and something happened to them, both are in absolute agony"

Elrond frowned. "Right, any clues to what they have done? Have they come in contact with something poisonous perhaps?"

The assistant shrugged. " I don't know, a hawk arrived with the message. They'll get here soon"

Elrond sighed and ran to his room, got changed and ran back, the assistant was holding a horse hitched up to a wagon and they got in. it only took a few minutes to get to the hospital this way and Elrond started to prepare. He knew that there were many dangers in the sea, and some were worse than others. The teleri elves adored their little ones like all elves but they didn't overprotect them the way many of the more city dwelling vanyar or noldorin elves did and the result was that the teleri youngsters were rather mature for their age and perfectly able to take care of themselves at a very young age. Elrond had always admired that attitude, a lot. He prepared one of the examination rooms and crossed his fingers, this could be very serious but he hoped that it was something easily solved.

Before long a wagon with two steaming horses stopped in front of the hospital, the animals had almost run themselves to death and one of them collapsed and lay there in a heap, just gasping for air. Some adult elves jumped from the wagon and two carried an elfling each. The young ones appeared to be the equivalent of a human six year old and both were boys and tanned from the sun. The thick silvery hair so typical of the teleri elves had been cut short in the summer heat and the boys did seem to be in perfect health. But now both were more or less unconscious and they had spasms and were groaning with pain. Elrond felt cold, this was something very bad indeed.

Two of the adults were very pale and shaking and he understood that this was the father's of these two elflings. Both looked like fishermen and were decorated with seashells and strange tattoos made to appease Ulmo and both were close to tears. They laid the two elflings down onto a bench each and Elrond swallowed hard. "Listen, does any of you know if they touched something out of the ordinary?"

One of the two fathers' heaved for air. "They would never touch anything they didn't know my lord, all of our children learn that early."

Elrond stared at the two small ones, it was clearly some sort of poisoning but what caused it? "Where did this happen?"

The two adults stared at each other and the others who had followed them looked uncertain. "They were playing in a tidal pool? "

Elrond clenched his teeth together. "Much can hide in those pools, did it happen suddenly?"

The first father nodded. "They were playing peacefully and then we heard my Alagasson scream and before we got to him Fain too screamed, he was trying to help Alagasson."

Elrond frowned, whatever it was it had affected both elflings, what could this be? He touched Alagasson gently and felt that the child was clammy and cold and in obvious agony. "Did they touch some part of their bodies?"

The second father looked a bit uncertain. " Fain said something about a sting, before he passed out?"

Elrond took a deep breath, a sting? Right, it had to be on their lower bodies then, since they had been wading through the pool. He nodded to the two fathers. "Remove their loincloths and sandals, the rest of you may leave"

The first father bit his lower lip. "They are kin, my brother in law and a cousin of mine"

Elrond just gave them his strictest glare. "That is irrelevant now, only the closest of kin may be present"

He grasped Alagasson and started examining his feet very carefully. They were covered with sand and rather wrinkly and he shouted an order to his assistant and got a bucket of water brought over. He washed the feet quickly and now he took a very careful peek at every square inch of skin, he even checked between the toes and lo and behold, between the little toe and the next one Alagasson had a small wound, barely the size of a nail and it hadn't even been bleeding. He felt frantic, went over to Fain and checked his feet too and yes, he had a wound just like that right in the middle of his sole. The teleri elves usually wore sandals in the water to protect their feet from sharp rocks and shells but they walked barefoot on land and the soles of their feet were like leather and very tough so it had to be something sharp to cleanly penetrate their thick hide. The first father looked at the healer with a pleading expression. "What is wrong with them? Please say you have an answer"

Elrond felt sick to the core, he did have an answer but it was a very bad one, one everybody feared. He took a deep breath. "I know what caused this, and it doesn't look good at all. Both stepped on a rockfish."

The two fathers went deathly pale and the first one moaned. The other had to sit down and Elrond wished that there was something he could say. " I am sorry, I will do all that is in my power but you know about this fish"

The two nodded silently, everybody who lived by the sea knew of this particular fish. It was very rare and few ever saw one but sometimes they would gather and hide in the sand or the seaweeds and if you accidentally stepped on one the fish would defend itself with a poisonous spike. They said that the pain was beyond description and that people had cut their own limbs off to get rid of it. The second father was in tears. "Will they survive?"

Elrond could only be honest. "I don't know yet, if they had been adults I would have said they both have a fair chance but since they both are small, well, I have no idea"

He turned to his assistants and told them to get hot water and some ointments. There were no antidote against the poison of this fish but there was a possible cure and that was sticking the stung limb in hot water, so hot the victim of the sting almost got severe burns. Elrond knew that the poison in itself was bad but the thing that killed the victims was the pain. It simply overwhelmed the central nervous system and caused the heart to stop. He got busy, grasped a thin knife and opened both wounds, let them bleed out and he saw that some thick sticky fluid followed the blood, it was the remains of the poison. Then he told both fathers to hold the lads while he cauterized the wounds using a red hot metal rod. The stench of burned flesh made both Ellyn retch and Elrond felt so sorry for them. Watching your child suffer is something no parent should have to go through. Both elflings were making hollow groans and Elrond poured some strong pain killers down their throats. He also injected quite a lot and he did notice that Fain's foot was swelling a lot while that of Alagasson didn't.

He swore and turned to the two adult elves, his face was neutral as ever. "We have to put their legs into very hot water, I am sorry but it is the only way"

Alagasson's father gasped. "Oh Eru, is there no other method?"

Elrond shook his head. "No, the poison attacks the nerves, it is a neuro toxin and it is as you know very lethal. If your boys had been human they would have been dead already"

Fain's father closed his eyes. " Mother told me that her aunt did get stung by such a fish just after they arrived here in the blessed realm, she died most horribly"

Elrond poured the warm water into two almost boot shaped buckets they normally used to soak the feet of people with skin problems. It was steaming hot and his assistant stared with huge eyes. "My lord?!"

Elrond nodded. "Yes Faerthor, it is the only cure. The heat will make the poison break down into harmless fluid, I hope."

He pulled Alagasson's leg to the side and put the foot into the water, the elfling let out a piercing wail and Elrond knew that he forever would have horrible memories of this, if he survived in the first place. The cure for this was almost as bad as the problem itself.

He did the same with Fain before he gave the two more painkillers and some medicine to strengthen their hearts and now they could only pray and wait. He didn't like the fact that Alagosson's foot hadn't swollen up, that told him the poison had been injected deeply into the tissue and that it had gotten time to spread through the body. Fain was stung after Alagasson and he sort of guessed that it could be the same fish which had stung both. It could be that it had less poison left after it stung Alagasson and that Fain thus had received a lower dose. Fain's father was holding his son's hand and Elrond saw that he was fairly young, maybe just in his second century of life. He tried to smile at the terrified ellon. "He is a strong one, he will make it. Does his mother know?"

The ellon sort of gasped and wiped tears from his face. " I sent some to fetch her and tell her we were on our way to this place, I think she may come here soon, if she finds a horse that is"

The father of Alagasson was grey in the face and he was shivering. "My wife is visiting her mother down south, oh Eru, what if he dies?"

Elrond realized that this was one elf close to a complete breakdown, he got over and laid a hand on the shivering ellon. "Have faith, that is all we can do now, I didn't get your name?"

The ellon sort of shrugged, " Oh by Ulmo's tears, I am sorry. I am Hwestor and he is Rosdir, we are second cousins by the way"

Elrond could see that they were related, both had a very strong chin and a rather stocky frame for a teleri. He smiled at them. " Great, try to speak to the lads, keep them here"

He knew that it was very easy for an elfling to let go and seek the halls, they were not as bound to their hröa as an adult. He sat down with a hand on each elfling and tried to focus his healing powers to the max, it would drain him but there was no other option the way he saw it. This was a terrible situation.

After a while the water had to be changed and both legs were bright red and Fain had gotten some blisters too. It looked extremely painful but Elrond saw that the swelling was coming down and the pulse in the leg was strong. He bit his teeth together and removed the bucket, started smearing a skin healing ointment onto the leg where it was burned. "The poison has dissolved, but his leg isn't safe yet. Sometimes in rare cases such poison can cause severe spasms, so bad bones snap and tendons break, or it can make one completely paralyzed. Nobody reacts in the exactly same manner. "

He told his assistant to massage the leg gently and pour cold ointment onto it constantly. He had a good feeling of hope when he looked at Fain, the lad would most likely make it but that leg would have bad and vulnerable skin for decades to come. Rosdir sat there speaking to his son the entire time and he tried to be brave and optimistic. Hwestor tried to stay strong and Elrond saw that he probably realized that his son was way more affected than Fain. The leg was strangely stiff to the touch and Elrond could feel that the elflings heart was struggling very hard. Damnation, the poison had indeed reached the body.

He ordered for some herbs which strengthened the entire body and he knew that most deaths from the sting of this fish was caused by either the heart or the lungs giving up, or both simultaneously. Some even got paralyzed and it was the sheer shock to the system that was the real nasty part of it. They sat there praying when the door flew open and a very pretty elleth wearing a light blue gown ran in so fast her long dark blonde hair was flying behind her. Rosdir got up and embraced her and Elrond tried to smile. " You must be Fain's mother?"

She nodded, grasping onto the unconscious child. " I am, oh Eru say he will be alright?"

Elrond saw that she was beside herself with worry and he nodded to the assistant and told him to go get some soothing tea. "I think he will make it, he is strong"

She sobbed and Rosdir embraced her gently. Elrond turned his attention to Alagasson, the elfling was not getting any better, in fact his skin had taken a nasty greyish hue and his breathing had become labored. Elrond tried pouring even more energy into the struggling hröa but to no prevail, the damage was too great. The fish had probably been a large one, with a lot of poison and Alagasson got most of it. Hwestor looked at the healer with despair and all Elrond could do was to gently squeeze the ellon's shoulder. "Do not give up, there is yet hope"

Hwestor sobbed and Elrond felt so terribly sorry for him. If the lad died this ellon would be completely crushed, and probably feel guilty for not having looked after the lad and stopped this from happening. But how could you do that without locking the children up indoors the whole time? There were always risks in life and you couldn't avoid them by hiding. Elrond knew that there were some maiar living not far from the city, servants of Yavanna who oversaw the harvesting of the fields and forests and made sure that nobody took more than they needed. They could perhaps help but they were not healers and by the time any of them got to this place it would be too late anyhow.

He grasped Faerthor by the shoulder. "Prepare a room for Fain and his parents, he will be more comfortable in a real bed, let them have some peace and rest. And do get some food too"

Faerthor just nodded and ran off and after a while they carried Fain over into a guest room. He was breathing normally and his color was good. Now he was just sleeping due to the medicine he had gotten, he would be okay and Elrond let out a sigh of relief. But Alagasson was in great peril and he wished that there was more he could do. He felt completely helpless, had he still had the power of his ring he could have tried to slow the damage down but here in the blessed realm the rings had sort of lost their magic and became just ordinary jewelry. He guessed that the valar didn't want any more rings of power laying around.

Fain did wake up after another half hour and he was crying and confused but he calmed down relatively fast and proved to have a stoic nature that Elrond found remarkable. He didn't even wince when the healer examined the skin where the hot water had been in contact with his leg and Elrond praised him a lot, that made the lad beam with pride but he was very concerned about Alagasson and Elrond didn't want to tell him the truth so he just said that his friend was being treated in another room. Fain sort of stared down and his eyes were dark. " You are saying that just to be kind right? He isn't gonna be okay"

Elrond swallowed, these telerin elflings were so mature for their age, they understood much more than a noldor elfling would. " No little one, he is not gonna be okay I am afraid"

Fain swallowed hard. "I am so sorry, I heard him scream and if I had been a little faster…"

Elrond hugged the sobbing child and rocked him gently. "There was nothing you could have done Fain, when you heard him scream it was already too late."

His mother sobbed and Elrond got up and made a grimace. "Does any of you know where Hwestor's wife is? I want to send a messenger to her"

Rosdir nodded. "She is in the fishing village south of the great river, by the grey cliffs."

Elrond nodded and left the room, he wrote a swift letter explaining the situation and then he got hold of a messenger and told the ellon to ride hard. He could only hope that Alagasson's mother would make it in time but the sad fact was that the lad probably only had a few hours left, at the most. Elrond cursed the fact that nobody had been able to make antivenom against the poison of this fish, but they didn't know how to. By nightfall he let Fain and his parents go to his home where Celebrian would take good care of them, she had a soft spot for injured little ones and would certainly spoil Fain royally. Elrond wanted the family out of the hospital for he needed to concentrate all his skills on Alagasson. He worked continuously with making potions to make the elfling cope with the poisoning but nothing he did seemed to have an effect.

Hwestor was weeping openly and Elrond didn't know what to say, he had no words to comfort a grieving father and even if he too had lost a child when Arwen chose to become a mortal it was nothing like this. At least Alagasson was so sedated by now he didn't feel much pain and Elrond knew that such a young elf probably would be re-embodied rather fast but the trauma would still stick with the family and the fëa. He allowed Hwestor to lay in the bed, holding the dying child close and just before sunrise Alagasson took his final breath. Hwestor broke down into hysterical sobbing and Elrond suddenly had a new patient to take care off. The loss of his son clearly broke down the ellon's strength and yet his reactions were mild compared with those of parents of the other clans. He had once been there when a vanyarin elleth died after being run over by a cart pulled by some runaway horses and he had feared that the parents would fade and die. They just gave up and sat there in complete apathy and he had been a bit shocked by their reaction.

Hwestor laid there holding his son until the body got cold, then Elrond sort of eased some sleeping medicine into him and put him to bed while the body was washed and prepared for burial. Normally a dead elf would be cremated rather fast after he or she died but Elrond wanted to wait for the mother to arrive.

She got there just before sunset and she immediately broke down and had to be taken care off too and she didn't listen to Elrond who reassured her that Namò probably would return their son to them as soon as he had been healed of the shock of dying thus. She was wailing and screaming and now Hwestor had to concentrate on her instead of his own grief and he did manage to calm her down, at least to a degree. The next morning they burned Alagasson's body and Fain and his family was there too, Elrond saw that Fain was remarkably calm and the young one smiled when Elrond went over to ask how he felt. He was still too weak to walk but he was being carried by his father and he put his chin up and tried to look brave. "When I grow up I want to become a healer like you my lord, and find a way to help people who get stung"

Elrond petted the thick silvery hair and grinned. "I am sure you will be the best healer ever my friend, and for the future, beware of nasty fish"

Fain just nodded and Elrond saw that Alagasson's parents were standing there in a tight embrace. They would make it, they had deep feelings for each other and that made them strong. The pain would follow them for the rest of time but it would fade gradually, and when he was returned to them it would be a new start.

Elrond hated the idea of having lost a patient, it always made him depressed and sad and it was even worse when it was such a young patient but he knew that not even he could conquer death each time. Sometimes the doomsman came to collect and all Elrond could do was to make sure that the dying didn't suffer too much before the end. Alagasson hadn't felt much pain in the end, that was his solace, the one glimpse of something good in this misery, and the knowledge that he had done all that he could.

A couple of days later the two families returned to the coast and Celebrian was beside herself with worry and sent a lot of gifts with them. She had completely melted and had fed Fain enough sweets to hold him on a sugar high for weeks. Elrond couldn't help but wonder about the way fate sometimes works, he had visited a princess with a son who had been an enemy, and seen how she would do everything to protect him and he had witnessed how a simple innocent game of playing tags in the water had resulted in death, a very undeserved one too. Elrond knew that those who had passed through the halls were cleansed of all past sins, and that they were not to be blamed for their previous actions, the ways of the valar were above his understanding and as he went home to rest and write the events down in his journal he sort of felt that the reborn warg rider and the surviving elfling both would have an important role to play in the future. He didn't have his mother in laws ability to see the future but his guts told him that Fain one day would live up to his promise. Perhaps this one day would result in something good after all.


	3. A helping hand

(this chapter is linked to Rogercat's AU universe on AO3 where Maedhros is a female with a son born in Angband.

Chapter 3: A helping hand

The morning had been a glorious one, the sweet scent of summer drifted in through the windows as Elrond got to work. Celebrian had spoiled him this morning with some very delicious cookies she had bought and he grinned as he entered the small hospital. His assistant was already there, preparing the waiting room and some of the apprentices were busy cleaning some equipment. He did grant them a graceful nod as he strolled by, eagerly anticipating the first patients of the day. Since he kept the small hospital open every day he never knew what to anticipate and that was the thrill of it. Sometimes it was just routine things like removing splinters from fingers or helping kids getting rid of stuff stuck in their nostrils. Just simple and rather unchallenging things which did give some income and also felt rewarding. After all, when your kid has got a coin stuck in its nose everybody tends to get a wee bit hysterical and he sort of bathed in the gratitude of a lot of parents already. He had a reputation for being good with kids and the word was spreading too.

He went to the office to do some paperwork until the first elves did arrive, some days none did and those days were boring to say the least. He did read a lot though, old and very valuable books brought from the ancient cities and some made in Valinor. In some cases he had to wipe away tears of laughter because the author clearly had no experience whatsoever with the stuff he was writing about. In one book he had seen hobbits described as creatures covered with hair all over and having feet so huge they could use them as umbrellas when it was raining. He found the latest book he was reading and sighed, it was about herbs and he knew he had to refresh his knowledge on the subject.

He had been sitting there for a while when he raised his head, frowning, what was that racket? It sounded as if someone was re-enacting the battle of the last alliance in the front yard. Screams, hollering, shouts, loud shrill cries and he got up, a bit puzzled. He almost collided with his assistant who bowed and looked a bit shocked. " Uhm, my lord, a couple is here, and they have brought their…offspring!"

The way his assistant used the word told Elrond that he didn't see these elflings as normal kids at all. This day it was Faerthor who was assisting Elrond and the tall darkhaired ellon had an expression of pure horror on his face. Elrond frowned. "Offspring?"

Faerthor nodded firmly" Yes, offspring, I wouldn't use the word elf to describe them, orcs are way more appropriate if you ask me"

Elrond got up, still feeling confused. He followed Faerthor towards the reception room and the racket got even louder. He took a peek through the window and saw what could only be described as a veritable army of elflings who were all over the place. He tried to get an idea of how many they were and with a lot of difficulty he managed to count them. It was two Ellyn and three ellith, the youngest perhaps four and the oldest couldn't be more than twelve? He had never encountered an elven couple who had kids that close in age before, usually elves waited until their first child was at least in its teens before they had number two. Elven children are after all growing very fast the first year and then they slow down a lot and stay at the toddler stage for years. They could perhaps understand more than a human child of their age but that didn't mean that they didn't need to be watched and taught about life.

He entered the reception room and saw the parents, a vanyarin couple. The husband stood by the wall watching a painting Elrond had put up there and his face told the healer that he didn't approve of it at all. The painting was very dear to Elrond, Arwen had painted it and it depicted the meeting between Melian and Thingol, and both were painted in the nude. It was a gorgeous painting and very realistic too. The wife sat on a chair and Elrond's inner alarm bells went off immediately. This was one elleth in serious trouble. She was heavily pregnant and she did look like a mess. Her hair was unkempt and greasy, her skin pale and grey and her eyes was the worst thing, they were not shining and bright the way elven eyes are supposed to be. No, they were dull and empty and told only of pain, fatigue and a lack of hope Elrond found horrible. He wondered if this was what Miriel had looked like when she carried Fëanor, for this was one drained elleth for sure. She held her belly with one hand and there was nothing of the joy you usually expect from a mother to be, she just looked like a dying animal who has given up the fight and accepted its fate.

The husband hawked. "That image is inappropriate, you shouldn't show such lewd paintings to the public"

Elrond wanted to say that this wasn't a public place, and that art is art and not pornography but the father sort of turned around on his heels. "My wife complains about pains in her back and female parts, she is just being dramatic for sure but my mother did insist that we came here so here we are. "

Outside there was a sound of something being broken and the father sort of laughed, "My boys are a bit boisterous, but that is good. Strong lads. We have two so far, but I want to beat Fëanor when it comes to sons. This one is gonna be a female tough, so I will have to try again"

Elrond just knew it, he hated this ellon. The proud arrogance with which he spoke told the healer everything and the sort of dead expression in the wife's face revealed the rest of the sad story. I will have to try again? Well, it takes two to create a baby but obviously this poor female was just a broodmare. Elrond almost snapped but managed to keep his calm polite face. He smiled and felt very nervous, this was one very sick elleth. "I can hear that your children are very vigorous yes, could you please tell them to calm down a bit? I need some peace and quiet here to examine your wife"

The husband shrugged. "Oh, let them express themselves, raising them is an elleth's job and my wife is doing a very lousy one I must say. I didn't expect her to be that lazy when I married her but at least she is fertile he he he"

Elrond didn't believe his own ears, lazy?! More like half dead with fatigue! He managed to smile again, even though the smile looked as if he was trying to suck the last juice out of a very sour lemon. " So she isn't living up the your expectations you mean? Not doing her wifely duties?"

The ellon nodded, grinning widely. " Exactly, three ellith so far, what do you give me? I want sons, ellith are worthless unless you can use them to forge a good alliance with families in power of course. I am already trying to find a suitable husband for the oldest one"

Elrond felt that he had to count to one hundred, slowly! He had come across humans with that sort of attitude back in middle earth but he had never imagined that there were elves with that sort of thoughts. Well, they were vanyar and some vanyar families were extremely pious and regarded females as less than males in every manner. This had to be a gross example of just that, gone to the extreme. The husband scoffed. "Just look at her, she could at least try to freshen up a bit but no! Too bad the valar won't let anyone re-marry anymore, or else I would have gotten rid of her and found someone younger, you know? Tighter with perkier breasts and a narrow waist, now that would be something to take to bed, this piece of out-suckled meat is not exactly attractive anymore"

Elrond had to cough to mask his shock, what in Eru's name? He tried to stay calm even if he felt like shaking the ellon viciously for a while. "Ah, you shouldn't happen to be reborn now should you? "

The ellon raised an eyebrow. "Yes? How come?"

Elrond made a grimace, the wife stared at him with huge pleading eyes and he just knew it, this ellon would continue to impregnate her until she one day died! He had hardly ever heard of an elleth who had died in childbirth but this one? Oh she wouldn't survive more than one more birth, that was for darn sure. "Ah, I just thought you had an interesting accent."

The ellon grinned again, widely. "Yes, well, I am reborn indeed, but I cannot remember my previous life, I probably was someone important and Nàmo that dork didn't want me to reclaim my name and status"

It clicked, Elrond rolled his eyes. Reborn without memories? That usually meant one out of two options, either the soul had died so horribly the doomsman didn't want it to remember anything or the soul in question had in fact been an orc! Elrond didn't doubt even for a second that this ellon in fact had been one of Morgoth's orcs, and Nàmo hadn't managed to get all the wickedness out of him. Well, nobody is perfect, not even the valar. He tried to smile. " I am sure you were yes, now, I have to examine your wife so if you could step outside?"

The husband shook his head. " And risk that you make inappropriate moves towards her? I stay here!"

Elrond got really angry now, he was a healer damn it, not some hormone ridden youth ready to grope at any female available, and he was happily married too. He smiled again, a very narrow smile which almost showed teeth. " Fine, then you could perhaps assist me?"

He pointed towards the chair they used to examine females and the husband just grunted. "You are the healer, you do the job"

Elrond almost growled but managed to stay calm, he gently helped the poor elleth up on her legs and saw that she was trembling all over. She appeared to be terrified of her husband and Elrond swore to himself. This was awful, she was literally dying slowly and the husband did nothing to help her? Normally in an elven pregnancy the father will allow the mother to use his energy through their marriage bond, to strengthen herself and the unborn one, but this husband obviously shut her off and didn't contribute at all. No wonder she was so drained. A human female can easily go through a pregnancy even without a partner but an elleth can't, the creation of a healthy elven fëa and hröa requires the combined strength of two adults. Outside the racket reached new and unimaginable levels, Elrond heard desperate howls and what could only be the sound of a very angry donkey. Oh no, the ellon who delivered clean sheets and bandages to the hospital used a donkey to transport the huge hampers with clean fabric.

The door swung open and a very angry ellon entered, he was a huge sinda originally from Doriath and he had been one of Thingol's elite guards and gotten killed in the second kinslaying. Elrond knew he had a short temper to say the least and now his eyes were glowing in a rather unnerving manner. "Can the owner of those goddamn orclings outside please follow me? Before I forget myself and commit infanticide!"

The husband just shrugged. "Oh they are children, they are just noisy"

The owner of the donkey glared at him. "Noisy? One of those boys just tried to push a broomstick up the rear end of my donkey and got kicked, and a girl wanted to pull its tongue out. Come here before they harm themselves!"

The husband just shook his head with an annoyed sigh, "You have not done your job wife, you ought to teach them better"

He followed the ellon out the door and Elrond just stared, pushing a broomstick up the rear of a donkey? Those elflings would need some discipline soon or else they would end up in the halls rather quickly, as punishment. The wife sort of sobbed. " I am so sorry, I wish I could do more but….I don't have the strength and if I try to be stern he tells me I am a terrible mom"

Elrond patted her hand. "I think you are doing your best, it is he who isn't satisfied with anything"

She nodded, eyes lowered to the floor and Elrond did notice some dark shadows through the thin fabric of her expensive dress. Bruises? Oh Eru, what sort of an ellon beats his wife? Elrond walked over to the table and grasped a decanter of wine and poured a huge cup full. "Here, this is wine with no alcohol in it, it will give you some strength"

She trembled and took the cup, drank greedily and Elrond saw that some of the fatigue in fact could be caused by malnutrition. "Tell me lady, do you eat well? You are eating for two now."

She sort of sighed, didn't dare to meet his gaze. "No my lord, Angrion think I will go fat if I eat a lot"

Elrond felt more aghast by the minute. "So, he wants many sons?"

She nodded. "At least seven, he is bragging a lot about the two we already have, our daughters are nothing to him. We have been married for only twenty summers"

Elrond tried to give her a compassionate smile. "And you already have five and one on the way?"

She nodded. "Yes, nothing happened the first five years so he gave me herbs…to help me conceive. I have lost two elflings too, miscarriages. He was so angry then I thought…"

She didn't finish the sentence and he knew what she had been about to say, he felt his heart constrict within his chest. And herbs? He knew that the breeding slaves of Angband had been force fed such concoctions to bear more slaves for the dark lord, an elf will normally never conceive unless the fëar of the two parents to be are bonded. Had this scumbag in fact forced his wife to conceive? They were no match, there was no love there and that was for darn sure. Elrond helped the poor elleth into the chair and she blushed and looked mortified. "Tell me, how did you meet?"

He kept his voice neutral and warm and she blushed even deeper. "He came to my father asking for my hand, my family is famous for being fecund, mother is one of five siblings and I have three sisters."

Elrond clenched his jaw together, she was a broodmare, he was right. "Did you like him then?"

He kept an eye on the door, afraid the horrible excuse for an elf would return. He heard yelling and arguing from the front yard and smiled to himself. The tall sinda would never bow or cover in front of another ellon, and absolutely not a vanya. She shook his head. "I was afraid of him, but father owed money and Angrion had bought the debt and so father had no other choice."

Elrond shook his head in sorrow, no elf ought to act thus, this ellon was clearly faulty and was there anything he could do? He tried to concentrate on the patient. "You have pain?"

She nodded slowly. "My back, it feels like it is about to split, and my head hurts too, and I feel so dizzy. There is pain….down there too"

Elrond frowned. What the heck? He grasped her wrist, felt her pulse and it was not normal at all. He could see her heartbeat on her neck and there was a faint scent coming from her which really made him alarmed. Her blood pressure had to be through the roof and the scent? He started to suspect that she had eclampsia but that only affected mortal females, never elves? Unless they were so drained they virtually became mortals! He quickly lifted her skirts and started examining her female area and he was deeply shocked. He let her skirts drop again and washed his hands. "Tell me, how long have he waited before he has…made use of his rights after you have given birth?"

The elleth closed her eyes. "Usually just a few days"

Elrond almost dropped the bowl of herbs he was holding, was this ellon completely out of his mind? "And while you are expecting?"

She sighed, a very weary and thin sound. " Every night my lord, sometimes several times"

Elrond took a deep breath. "You are very ill my lady, in fact you are in mortal danger. You have a very bad infection which have spread to your kidneys and you have eclampsia too. This is your last pregnancy, you may not make it and I am brutally honest now. The birth will kill you if you don't get proper food and rest. I need to get you some medicine right away, the unborn could be in danger of being born blind or worse if you go untreated."

She bit her lip, sobbing. "But he wants many more sons…."

Elrond already knew that she was the equivalent of a slave, she had no chance of changing her fate. He had to act, and act now! That scumbag would never listen to reason, he was probably blind to everything except his own ambitions of besting the legendary Fëanor when it came to fecundity. He stared at the stack of jars in the shelves and a very devious idea formed in his head. It was unethical but it could save a life, or possible more than one and he didn't hesitate. He grasped some jars and found some goblets and other equipment. Swiftly he started mixing two different concoctions and he worked frantically. This was wrong, he shouldn't interfere with the fate of others but yet he had to. He couldn't let that beast ruin that poor elleth. She was completely ruined physically and he wondered if she was suffering from being incontinent as well, but being too shy to mention it. She would need centuries to recover and return to normal.

He finished with one dose of medicine and continued with the other one, it was simpler but no less efficient. He poured both of the liquids into glasses and filled them with wine. Then he made a third medicine and made sure to make it strong, she needed that. He also added a generous dose of pain killer. Outside the arguing had reached volcanic proportions and he heard words being shouted that would have made the bane of Durin duck and run for cover. He gave her the first glass. "Here, drink this, this will strengthen you"

He was lying and he wondered why he managed to keep his voice calm. The brew would sterilize the poor elleth forever, she would never conceive again but that was for the best, she simply wouldn't survive yet another pregnancy, even if she did recover from this one. Her fëa was too drained, and her body too damaged. She drank it all with a grimace and then he gave her the other cup. "This is for the eclampsia and the infection, it should work in a few hours"

She just nodded and obeyed, drank it with a lethargic expression that was terrifying. She had really lost the will to live and he suspected that the fëa of the unborn elfling was the one thing which kept her alive. He smiled and patted her back and helped her up again, got her over to the couch and she sat down with a grimace. Poor thing, she was ready to drop dead anytime. She had to have at least two months left but she looked as if she was at full term already and that told Elrond it was a huge baby. He found some candy in a closet and smiled. "Here, this will remove the foul taste"

She gave him a grateful glimpse and started chewing away at the candy, looking almost desperate for sustenance. But how in Eru's name was he to help her recover? That goblin of a husband would never listen to him, that ellon had made up his own truth and would fight tooth and claw to preserve it. He was standing there wondering when the husband returned, he looked like a thundercloud and the poor wife cringed, Elrond knew that this creature would take out his wrath on the poor wife as soon as they were alone so he put up the most fake smile he had ever worn and approached the ellon. " I hope he wasn't too unpleasant? That elf can be a handful"

He sort of held a friendly tone and the husband hissed. "He had the audacity to say that my sons were abominations, I will show him that idiot!"

Elrond nodded, pretended to be very compassionate. " Yes, that was very crass, they are such vigorous young ones."

He took a decanter and pretended to be pouring wine into a glass, then he gave the ellon the whole thing. "Here, this will do you good, it's on the house."

The ellon grasped the glass and tossed it back like water, the medicine did taste good and he stared at the glass with a pleased expression. "This was good stuff, got some more?"

Elrond nodded and filled the glass again, oh this ellon would never sire another elfling, and his libido would take a plunge too. One more cup and he would have to change his name, to Angriel!

But how was he to save the poor wife right now? The answer came and it was unexpected to say the least. The racket outside hadn't subsided at all, the kids were still causing mayhem and Elrond wanted to scream at them but he couldn't, it wouldn't be professional. Then suddenly they heard the sound of hooves and Elrond did walk over to the window to take a peek outside. He saw two riders who stopped their horses outside and he had to blink twice, was that really….?

The elflings still created a horrible racket and one of the little ellith tried to pull out huge tufts of hair from her younger sister, the sister answered by grasping a fistful of horse shit from the ground and smearing it into her attacker's face. The screaming was infernal to say the least. Then a voice sort of cut through the noise like a hot knife cuts through butter. " **Be quiet you little weasels or I will warm your behinds and that is a promise!** "

Angrion frowned and looked a bit shocked, who was this who dared to scold his children? The door opened and Faerthor entered. "My lord, Lady Nerdanel is here, with her grandson Celebrimbor"

Elrond rolled his eyes, perfect! Royalty visiting while the place looked like a veritable battle field. He didn't have time to ask his assistant to make them wait, the door flew open again and Nerdanel entered the room. Elrond knew that many had been shocked when Fëanor did marry that elleth, many thought she was rather plain and not a suitable princess at all, but at this moment she did look like a Goddess, tall and majestic with sparkling eyes and her proudly raised chin told anyone who looked upon her that she was a very confident and powerful person.

Elrond bowed politely and Angrion sort of stared, he hadn't anticipated to meet someone of that status and he immediately tried to smear a very servile grin across his face. Celebrimbor entered behind his grandmother, he was tall and imposing enough, carrying a very beautiful blade his grandfather had forged and he stared at the elleth on the couch with narrow eyes. The poor wife tried to get up but she was too weak and Nerdanel immediately rushed to her aid. "There dear, don't push yourself, you look like you need a good rest, be seated please"

The wife sort of slumped back into the couch and Elrond could see that Nerdanel was shocked by her appearance. Celebrimbor made a grimace. "Are you the parents of that wolf pack on the outside? I have never come across more….unruly children"

Angrion just smiled that wide grin of his and Elrond thought he resembled a rat, or some other vermin. "Oh they are just energetic, my wife is failing when it comes to raising my young."

Nerdanel turned around slowly and Elrond brazed himself internally, uh-oh, this was gonna be nasty! She cocked her head. "I beg your pardon? Raising children is a job for both parents, not just the mother!"

Angrion didn't even flinch, he wasn't aware of the trouble he was heading into. "She is just lazy, not doing what she ought to do. She is just giving birth to daughters so she doesn't deserve any better, I want sons you see, at least as many as those you carried for your husband"

Nerdanel turned her gaze towards the elleth, her eyes were dark. "You have five already? And one on the way? Two boys? And how long between them?"

Angrion smiled proudly. "Just a little more than a year, three years tops, she is slow at conceiving this one, but I am proud that I am virile enough to sire enough elflings to beat your husband"

Nerdanel suddenly looked rather terrifying and Elrond did look for a place to seek cover, her face was without any expression and her eyes like steel. He remembered that she was a sculptress and worked with marble, she was probably the strongest person in the room. "Are you telling me that you have tried to keep your wife constantly pregnant for several years? Are you insane?"

Angrion just raised an eyebrow. "It is a wife's duty to please her husband now isn't it? And you gave your husband seven elflings?"

Nerdanel sneered. " Oh yes, but he never wanted me to become pregnant again before several years had passed, we both agreed and wanted to try again and my oldest was almost an adult before the twins came, and they weren't even planned! And duty? What sort of ill begotten leech are you? Look at her, she is completely drained! I wouldn't have survived one more child after the twins and you strive for a whole little army of your own? Children are to be begotten as an act of love, not as a part of a competition!"

The last words came as a shout and Angrion sort of backed off a few steps, a bit shocked. He was used to meek and obedient vanyar ellith, not a noldorin princess with a fighting attitude. Nerdanel almost sneered. "I bet you don't even love her hah? Is she more than a broodmare to you?"

Angrion had gotten a wee bit pale, he sort of shrunk a bit. " Uh, I needed heirs, and she was unmarried, she ought to be grateful, not all would have married someone that plain and stupid"

Elrond started to fear that a new kinslaying would emerge there and then, Nerdanel was ready to roll up her sleeves and Celebrimbor looked furious too. The tall red headed elleth stared at Elrond. "She looks sick, how bad is it?"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Bad, she has got eclampsia and a nasty infection since he haven't been able to stay off of her, and well, she is slowly dying. She needs at least one month of complete rest, and good food"

Angrion almost growled. "Bullshit, she is just being a sissy, complaining about everything. She is more than strong enough for more elflings"

Nerdanel stared at Elrond again. "A month of rest you say? And good food? Well then so, I think I know what to do with this situation"

She grasped Angrion by his collar and lifted him off his feet, the elf squealed and kicked and looked horrified and Nerdanel gave him a very cold smile. " I will take your wife away until she has given birth again, she may live at my house to recover and you may take care of that horde of yours. I will see to her every need and make sure she has everything she can dream of when it comes to care and treatment, what you ought to have done but haven't"

Angrion tried to wriggle himself free. " You cannot do this, she is my wife!"

Nerdanel shook the ellon hard. "Wife you moron, not slave! And if I ask a polite favor of Manwë I bet he will announce that this so called marriage of yours is a fake and has to be annulled. A marriage without a marriage bond forged by love is no marriage at all"

Angrion was so angry and terrified he was beet red and Nerdanel sort of threw him at the wall. "Tyelpe, escort this…thing….outside and make sure he gathers that wild bunch of his and leaves. Or else I will write to Ingwe himself and ask him to throw this half orc into the deepest dungeons he has got, for at least an age"

Angrion growled. "You cannot do that, what power do you…"

Nerdanel slapped him across the face. "The power of being the wife of the Noldorin crown prince damn it, my father in law and Ingwe are very good friends, remember that"

Celebrimbor grasped Angrion by the collar and hauled him outside and Nerdanel sat down next to the shivering elleth. "Easy there, relax. You are safe now dear, he will never harm you again, this I swear"

The wife sobbed, she did look terribly young and Elrond realized that Nerdanel too had seen the bruises and the horrible condition she was in. After all, as a mother of seven the tall redhead probably knew all the signs of fatigue. She stroked the young elleth's deep golden hair and smiled. "What is your name dear? I am Nerdanel but you already know that"

The elleth tried to smile politely. "I am Haldamirë my lady, of Valmar"

Nerdanel shook her hand. "Worry not, I will make sure that you are taken well care off, and you children will be taken care off too"

Haldamirë sort of groaned. " Oh Eru, they are horrible, I have never been allowed to teach them anything for Angrion always says that I know nothing and are useless and that I only spoil them"

Nerdanel sighed. " Sweet young one, I will send a message to Manwë tomorrow, that beast has been using you, there is no love in him, not even for his children"

Elrond bit his lower lip. "She will need medicine every day, and medical care and after the birth I fear she may even require surgery, she has …damages"

Nerdanel sighed. "I will make sure that it is done. Now, I didn't expect this when I left home but fate does sometimes work in odd ways"

Elrond got curious. "Not to be too hasty my lady, but why are you here?"

Nerdanel smiled "Oh I just wanted to go for a ride and volunteered to follow my grandson, he has a small favor to ask of you, nothing large but he wants someone who knows the meaning of the word discretion. "

Elrond got a bit curious, Celebrimbor had been reborn at the same time as his cousin Rûsa and unlike him he had been returned as an adult ellon, not as a child. Could he have some problems with his new body? Outside the racket had gone away, and they heard a carriage leaving the yard. Celebrimbor entered again, wiping imaginary sweat of his forehead. "Grandmother, if I ever meet that elf again I swear by Eru I will geld him with a blunt blade! He is the most despicable person I have ever met, except from Sauron of course"

Elrond sort of chuckled. "That won't be necessary, I gave him a concoction that will leave him sterile, and probably impotent too, at least for a few years"

Haldamirê sort of scoffed. " You did? Oh by the Valier, that was bold. But I think he deserves it, he hasn't even been true to me"

Elrond frowned. "He has been cheating on you on top of everything?"

The wife nodded. "Yes, he has been having his way with almost all the female servants of the house, they usually leave within a month to avoid him, we have had to rehire new people all the time"

Nerdanel crossed her arms over her chest and she did look as if she was ready to take on a dragon. "Scumbag, piece of filth. I bet he is a horrible lover as well"

Haldamirê made a small whimper and nodded, beet red. "He…he thinks it is all about him, I could have been a corpse and he would still have…ah"

Nerdanel sighed. "He would still have fucked you right? I think that one is gonna get what he deserves rather soon"

Celebrimbor gestured at Elrond. "My lord, if I may talk with you in private?"

Elrond nodded and they left the two ellith alone, entered another room. Celebrimbor sat down and Elrond saw that he was a bit nervous. The tall dark haired noldo sort of sighed and then he stared at the healer. "This may come as a huge surprise to you, and I still haven't told anyone except from grandmother. Back in the first age when I was alive the first time I met someone special and I fell in love, we got married in secret"

Elrond frowned, in secret? Few elves did that, why? Celebrimbor continued. " Nobody would have accepted the union back then, so we never told anyone and then I died and you know that tale. But she is reborn too and we want to remarry and there is something I need help with"

Elrond tilted his head. "Yes? Why keep it a secret by the way? Was she of a different tribe perhaps?"

Celebrimbor took a deep breath. "Elrond, she was of a different race! I married a dwarrowdam, I married Narvi"

Elrond just blinked, a dwarrowdam?! Eru's nutsack, that was…surprising to say the least! He had to cough to hide his shock. "Uh, what can I say, congratulations? But what do you need help for then?"

Celebrimbor sighed again. "Listen, the dwarves have their own customs when it comes to weddings, one of the customs is a tattoo. Mine is gone but I need it remade and I thought that you could do it? I have a drawing of it ready"

Elrond blinked again, feeling as if this day was turning into something rather bizarre. "Right, well, yes, I do know how to do it, that is correct but are you sure?"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Completely, she is my one Elrond, and we do love each other immensely, I want to prove it to her by remaking our wedding mark"

He handed over a drawing and Elrond stared at it. It was their names written in Tengwar and Dwarf runes wrapped around a very pretty image of the doors of Durin. It was a nice drawing and it would be a very nice tattoo as well. "Uh, I do have some equipment but do you think it could wait for a few days?"

Celebrimbor shook his head. "No, I want it done now if possible."

Elrond nodded, fine, he just needed some wine first, to calm his nerves. "Do you want any sort of sedation then?"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Yes please"

Elrond found some numbing cream and Celebrimbor removed the clothes from his upper body. He was toned and muscular as most smiths are and Elrond had to admire the beautiful physique. He smeared the back with the cream and Celebrimbor grinned. "I have never met more boisterous kids, not even my reborn cousin is that bad!"

Elrond remembered his visit at Maedhros place and smiled. "So, how is Rusa doing these days? Is he growing and getting stronger?"

Celebrimbor rolled his eyes. " Oh yes, he is getting more energetic by the day. Sweet Eru, I haven't got any idea of how many times we have had to go looking for him. He has created so much mischief."

Elrond sort of compared the rather wild reborn elf with the kids of the vanyar couple and had to think that even if Rûsa had been a servant of Morgoth he wasn't nowhere near as bad as those kids. He was just curious and wanted to explore but those kids were in fact vicious due to a complete lack of discipline. "Do tell please, I need something merry after all that horror"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Well, Celegorm was tasked with babysitting him once, he forgot to watch the kid and had to go outside in pouring rain to retrieve him. Rûsa was running around in the rain, buck naked"

Elrond had to grin, the plains of Angband had been bone dry, real rain had to be something amazing to the reborn elf. " I can almost see that"

Celebrimbor grinned. "And then ada was to watch him and he took off, we had to look all over the city and Maedhros was getting hysterical when he showed up again, dripping with mud, carrying a huge live catfish! He had been to the river!"

Elrond raised an eyebrow. "The river, that is dangerous!"

Celebrimbor sort of jerked as Elrond started drawing the image with a pen before he could start using a needle. "Yes, he got scolded but the fish was delicious though, we had it for dinner"

Elrond grinned. "So you father isn't an ideal babysitter?"

Celebrimbor nodded sternly. "Nope, once he took the elfling to the gardens and forgot that the berries were in season and Rûsa ate fermented berries, he was sick as a dog for hours and he also fed those berries to the neighbors chickens, it was mayhem! He even gave some to Huan, Celegorm almost went ballistic for the hound was puking all over the place"

Elrond had to laugh "Oh dear, that must have been interesting to say the least."

Celebrimbor leaned forth as Elrond found the equipment and got ready to start. "Ow, yes, and then we have the one time when he was left asleep in the sun and got sunburns. That was partly my fault but ada did steal my attention"

Elrond could very well imagine that Celegorm and Curufin was the least suitable babysitters among the huge family. He started working and Celebrimbor hissed and tried to sit completely still. "Once he drank a whole bottle of wine and got drunk, grandad sort of cured him of that tendency though"

Elrond frowned. "What tendency?"

Celebrimbor chuckled. "He wants to taste everything, if a bottle was left opened he would taste it. Once he did drink the polish ada uses on silver, luckily it isn't poisonous."

Elrond shook his head. "So what did Fêanor do?"

Celebrimbor giggled. "He mixed a horrible concoction of all sorts of liquor, hot sauce, cooking oil, sour cream, milk, mayonnaise, cooking fat, and melted butter and poured it into a cup and left it on the table. Rûsa took the bait and since then he has never tried to drink other people's stuff"

Elrond cringed, that mixture did sound like a most horrible thing to drink yes. Celebrimbor sighed. "I still wonder how I am gonna tell everybody though, I guess they will accept it but I doubt that the rest of the elves will"

Elrond smiled. " Don't worry, if the love is real it will survive everything, even some prejudice"

Celebrimbor sighed and nodded. "Let's hope so"

After a couple of hours the tattoo was done, Celebrimbor's back was raw and sore and Elrond did smear a lot of healing salve all over it. The result was very pretty and Celebrimbor was more than pleased with it. Nerdanel had sort of bonded with Haldamirê, and she whispered to Elrond that yes, her husband had been beating her, and treated her like trash and Nerdanel was going to visit the Mahanaxar the very next day to speak with the valar in person. Angrion was back home with the kids and Elrond sort of feared the result of that. He promised to come immediately if his help was needed, Nerdanel thought that the kids simply would have to be removed from their father and placed in other families to learn how to behave.

Elrond got a wagon from a neighbor and Nerdanel travelled with the elleth while Celebrimbor rode behind them. Elrond didn't doubt that Nerdanel would transform the elleth completely, and he had promised to drop by as often as possible.

The yard looked as if a tornado had gone through it and his assistants had a hard time cleaning up the mess. One of the boys had been in the storage room opening almost every jar there was in there and mixing the content and that meant that a lot of very expensive medicine had to be thrown away. Elrond was almost fuming with rage when he heard about that.

Some days later he received a message from Nerdanel. She had spoken to the valar and they had all agreed that the marriage between Angrion and Haldamirê was to be deemed as illegal and wrong. The children would be spread out among good families until their mother was strong enough to cope with them and the valar had started a small investigation on their own. Elrond was right, Angrion had been an orc in his previous life, and Namò hadn't managed to get all the contamination out of his fêa. He was therefore sentenced to some years in the gardens of Lorien to be cleansed thoroughly. Elrond was asked to join the guards assigned to the mission of collecting him and bringing him to the gardens and he rode out in the morning, feeling a bit apprehensive. He had no idea of what he was about to face.

The house of Angrion and Haldamirê was a very nice one, large with a beautiful patio and it had to be costly but now it looked like a pigsty. There was trash everywhere, the pool was filled with blankets and clothes and the kitchen did reek to high heavens of spoiled food. Angrion lay in the middle of the mess on the remains of a couch, he was shivering like a leaf and someone had poured an entire canister of green paint over him. He did look like a goblin. Elrond had seen grown Ellyn cry before but never like that, it was obvious that Angrion had had enough. The elflings were asleep in various places, most of them were naked and covered with mud, food and unknown substances and they had completely trashed the place. Elrond had seen battle fields which looked more organized than this place.

The guards had no problems grasping Angrion, he was surrendering with glee, and Elrond had to grin. He had tasted his own medicine for sure, the elflings had gone completely wild without their mother around and he had been unable to control them. Again he had to compare these wild ones with Rûsa, and the comparison was in Rûsa's favor. These kids were just plain destructive. Angrion was crying with relief as the guards took him away and Elrond suspected that he had gone a wee bit insane after days in this madhouse. The elflings were taken away to some stern but loving families who promised to raise them well, and Elrond could breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn't their fault that their father was a complete moron.

Haldamirê was taken good care off by Nerdanel and she regained her strength although slowly.

She did give birth to a very healthy girl and survived the ordeal but she spent several decades healing before she returned to society. Nerdanel told Elrond that she wanted to join the servants of Lorien and that she never would marry again and Elrond did understand why. She had probably had more than enough of marriage for several eternities. Angrion did return from the gardens two hundred years later, he was a very changed person but Lorien and Namo had in fact erased his memories yet again in order to get rid of the last remnants of his rather orcish personality. Now he was a very humble and very demure person who made a living binding flowers and he seemed to be way more happy too. He never remarried neither and rumors said that he actually did prefer males and Elrond knew that the brew had done its job. Haldamirê was safe and so were the other ellith of Aman as well, the beast was tamed and it had ended well but for the centuries to come Elrond couldn't hear the sound of children yelling without cringing and remembering that day of utter mayhem.


	4. What goes around

Chapter 4: What goes around…..

It was market day in Formenos, The streets were packed with elves and carriages and booths where you could buy almost everything. Elrond and Celebrian wandered through the crowd and admired the many examples of excellent craftsmanship which were for sale. Elrond had taken Celebrian to the city just to have a day off and to relax. He was looking for some special herbs which were harvested in the hills north of Formenos and he wanted to get as much as possible for they were rare and hard to come by. He had already bought two huge bags and he was rather pleased as he walked next to his wife, it was good getting away from the hospital just for once. Celebrian had bought some rather nice fabric and she was eagerly explaining how she was to sew some new tunics for Elladan and Elrohir. The twins had arrived a month earlier and Elrond had sort of found a new peace of mind. Arwen was lost to them all, she had passed beyond this world and it had caused them great grief but at last she had made her own choice and had lived a good life. Elladan and Elrohir were getting familiarized with the blessed realm and had become rather popular too. No wonder, they were charming and eloquent and enjoyed telling others of their exploits in middle earth.

Elrond knew they had a tendency to exaggerate and not just a wee bit but that was alright, he was just so happy to finally have his family back. The market was huge, and it had gathered elves from all over Eldamar, he saw all sorts of shops there and Celebrian had taken aim for the section reserved for the jewelry smiths. She was thinking of buying something for her father who had arrived with the twins and Elrond had to grin a bit. Rumors said that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn had been seen for days after the arrival, he guessed that they had some catching up to do. The jewelry section of the market was placed on a round square and Celebrian automatically started acting like a toddler in a candy shop. Elrond thought of his purse, it would get a lot lighter before this was over. He had to think of a noldor noble he had known in the first age, the ellon had married an avarin elleth of all things and her name had meant something like "Running deer". After a few years of marriage the husband had confessed to Elrond that he had started to refer to his wife as "Running expenses"

Celebrian found a very nice brooch she was sure her father would just love and Elrond sighed and had to say goodbye to quite a few gold coins. The brooch was made with rubies and moonstones and he had to admit that his wife did have excellent taste, even if it was expensive. They stood there admiring the brooch when a racket was heard coming from one of the archways at the end of the marketplace. Elrond raised an eyebrow and Celebrian sort of giggled, he hadn't done that in a long time, he had gotten some of his good mood back when the twins arrived. They heard someone shouting and Elrond got worried that someone was hurt. He walked closer and saw that a very tall vanyar ellon was standing there wielding a walking cane, he was gesticulating against two noldorin Ellyn who obviously were a couple and it was rather obvious that he didn't like that even a bit. Elrond knew that many of the vanyar were regarding same gender couples as an abomination and that they always sought to prove their own piousness and righteousness by publicly shaming everyone they saw as sinful or flawed.

The couple looked rather pissed off and the vanyar ellon was screaming something about sin, shame and unnatural behavior. He was so angry he was frothing at the mouth and the words were almost impossible to understand since he was screaming more than speaking. There were a lot of other elves there and most were either shocked or amused by the scene, Elrond knew that Formenos was a noldorin city and the noldor had no problems with such relationships, the vanyar lord was obviously there as a guest. Behind him Elrond saw a rather shocked looking vanyar female, she was veiled and wore a very expensive dress but she did look rather demure and nervous. He sighed, this lord obviously were among the worst of the vanyar, the small conclave of elves so goddamn pious they probably couldn't even spend an entire day without at least one visit to the temples.

Two city guards came and dragged the vanyar lord away from the couple and he sort of went ballistic and started screaming insults so bad even Elrond got a bit nervous, was this one just plain insane? He stared at the ellon and wondered if he ought to interfere when he heard a voice from behind. " Lord Elrond? Lady Celebrian? What a pleasant surprise!"

He turned around and saw that it was Maedhros and her son Rûsa. It had been quite a while since he last saw the young ellon and now Rûsa looked way better. He wasn't skinny anymore and looked very healthy. He stood obediently by his mother side and Elrond had to smile, he was a beautiful child and Celebrian sort of melted immediately. Elrond bowed his head. "Lady Maedhros, I am glad to see that you are well"

Maedhros smiled. "Yes, and Rûsa is doing so much better now, he is growing and thriving"

Elrond sort of petted the elfling on the head and Rûsa squirmed a bit, he didn't appreciate too much attention. Celebrian was very fond of elflings and started talking to Rûsa in a very sweet tone and Rûsa sort of blushed and looked down. He was after all an adult fêa in a child's body although not many knew of this. Elrond saw that the guards were about to sort of lead the enraged vanyar lord out of the market place and they walked by the small group. The lord saw Maedhros and stopped, spitting on the ground. "You should not dare to show your face in public you harlot, and absolutely not that ill-begotten offspring of yours. Get a husband and stay at home as a good elleth is supposed to"

Elrond felt that he was getting angry, and Maedhros sort of grew in height, she raised her chin and stared the vanyar straight in the eye. "What I do is none of your business, and my son is absolutely not ill-begotten. He is a blessing, which is more than I can say about certain other elves"

The vanyar sort of scoffed and Elrond could see that he was red in the face and almost trembling, some took their piousness a bit too far. The guards sort of pushed him a bit further and Maedhros sighed. "Lord Helcanar, he is a piece of work for sure. "

Elrond frowned. " I have never heard of him?"

Maedhros nodded. "No wonder, he is the most unpleasant ellon you can imagine. Rather rich and he has some influence but the king has banned him from the court and the temples does not allow him access. He is …..well, hard to describe"

Celebrian tilted her head. "That elleth in the yellow dress, is that his wife?"

Maedhros nodded. "Yes, a very poor creature for sure, she is probably just as pious as him but way more humble."

Elrond saw that the guards returned after having sort of deposited the enraged vanyar in a back alley. He wasn't allowed back into the market place for sure. Maedhros shrugged. "Don't think about that piece of orc-droppings. The weather is fine and the market is such a jolly place."

Celebrian nodded and they started walking again, Maedhros was heading for the area which sold cloth and Celebrian got eager and wanted to show her some very nice gowns she had seen and the two females started chatting eagerly. Elrond walked by Rûsa who was staring at everything with very curious eyes. He could see that the young one wanted to run off and explore but he obeyed his mother, he wasn't stupid and he knew that it was easy to get into trouble in such a huge place with lots of people. They walked by the countless booths when yet again a racket was heard, many shouting voices and the sound of running feet was heard and Elrond sort of ran forth and placed himself in front of the females, just out of instinct. He was shocked when he saw that cause of the noise. It was one of the vanyarin kids who had been placed with foster parents, one of the sons of that very despicable ellon who had used his wife as a broodmare. The young ellon was grinning, running in front of a group of very angry elves and the reason was obvious. He had a basket of eggs and rotten apples and he had sort of peppered several shops with both and now he kept tossing eggs and apples at the rolls of expensive cloth and the shoppers.

He was so swift nobody managed to grasp a hold of him and he laughed as he ran, completely indifferent to the damage he was causing, Elrond saw that a noldorin couple came running at the back of the group, it had to be the foster parents and they were in obvious shock and despair as they tried to make their foster son stop. The youngster ran around a column and collided with an elf and Elrond had to blink. It was that horrible vanyar lord and the impact sort of shoved him into the wall. The youngster let out a yell and threw a handful of eggs at the lord who suddenly had half rotten eggs all over his face and robes. The lord sort of roared with rage and suddenly the youngster got grasped rather brutally and he let out a terrified shriek. Elrond was afraid there would be an infanticide right there and then. The youngster managed to squirm his way out of the grip and Elrond suddenly saw that Rûsa was nowhere to be seen, had he gotten scared and tried to hide somewhere?

The young vanyar had only one way to go, into the open yard and there was a sort of fountain there. It was very pretty with a statue of Ulmo in the middle and someone had left a bucket on the edge of it, probably to refill the water troth by the side of the street. Now the youngster had a straight course towards the fountain and Elrond cringed as the golden haired kid sort of slammed into the edge of the fountain since he was looking behind him to avoid the angry ellon. The youngster did a rather amazing somersault and landed in the fountain with a grand splash. Elrond saw that the rope of the bucket suddenly moved a bit and he did see a small face behind one of the booths, a face with red hair around it. And the rope went into that booth.

The vanyar lord came running, too angry to really see anything except the elfling who had peppered him with eggs and as Elrond watched the rope suddenly got taut and Helcanar stumbled in it and his own legs and fell forward, the bucket flipped over and landed elegantly on his head and soaked the elf thoroughly since it was full of water. Rûsa disappeared and suddenly he stood behind his mother again, looking like innocence incarnate. Elrond had to grin, it was perfectly executed and planned and he realized that Rûsa was very smart and could think fast too. The fosterparents of the youngster dragged him out of the fountain and pulled him off by his ears and Elrond could see that he was about to get the scolding of this age. Helcanar got rid of the bucket and was coughing and swearing and the guards came running and grasped onto him again. "Didn't we tell you to get lost?! If you return we will show you our dungeons, they are quite a sight at this time of the year, plenty of spiders and rats!"

Elrond bit his lower lip not to grin and Celebrian was giggling. Maedhros caressed her son's red locks and smiled. " Oh praise Eru that my son is so well behaved, he would never do something like that"

Elrond scoffed and had to pretend to cough to hide his amusement. Rûsa stood there looking like a tiny angel and Maedhros reached into her purse and pulled out a small bag of candy. "Here darling, you have deserved it"

Rûsa made huge eyes and did attack the candy with zeal and Elrond sort of shook his head and was happy that the little trick had solved the tense situation without more violence. Maedhros hadn't seen that Rûsa had grasped the long rope and pulled it, nor had she seen that he had ran off for a few minutes and Elrond wasn't to tell her. Rüsa did deserve the candy, this could have gotten ugly. There were a lot of elves there who were pissed off because of the damage to their goods and some would probably seek out the foster parents and demand that the damage was paid for in full. Elrond didn't exactly envy them, it was rather obvious that the lack of discipline had ruined that elfling and that the foster parents still had a long way to go before he got anything even resembling good manners.

He and Celebrian spent the rest of the evening with Maedhros and Rûsa and the young elf did behave very well indeed and even if the sugar of the sweets probably had its effect he managed to be the epitome of sweetness. Elrond was tired when they returned to the inn they stayed at and he and Celebrian had been invited to visit Maedhros and her family anytime they felt like it. Celebrian had accepted with glee and it was obvious that she and Maedhros had found a sort of connection, both had suffered by the hands of the enemy and had a lot in common.

They returned home after a few days and Elrond had quite a job storing and sorting out all the herbs and medicine he had bought, there was little work to do so he was happy he had something to do. The only things he had to fix were minor injuries which weren't even a challenge for him. He was a bit surprised when he came to the small hospital after his lunchbreak to find a carriage outside. Most elves would ride or walk, only those with power or riches would use a carriage. This had to be someone important and he took a deep breath and prepared himself. In his experience those were the sort of patients who caused him problems. His assistant met him by the door and Calorno made a grimace and looked as if he had tried to suck the last juice out of a very sour lemon or something. "Elrond, I am warning you. That is…the worst person I have met, in a very long time!"

Elrond frowned and whispered. "Worse that the ellon with the kids?"

Calorno just nodded. "Yes, another vanya, of the pious type"

Elrond sort of cringed, oh Eru, it couldn't be?

He walked by the assistant and entered the waiting room and found that yes, it was Helcanar and he stood by the window, looking rather haughty but Elrond did notice that the ellon was a bit pale and there was sweat on his brow. Elrond didn't like Helcanar even a bit but that didn't matter, if the ellon was ill somehow he had to do his duty and help him. Helcanar tried to look as if he was in control of the entire world but Elrond could see quite a lot of fear in his eyes and he realized that this was something serious. He bowed his head. "Lord Helcanar? What a surprise, what brings you here?"

He remembered that Maedhros had told them that Helcanar had two sons and a daughter and that the sons had left Valmar and joined the wild avarin tribes in the woods of Oromê and his daughter had married a teleri captain and lived somewhere along the coast, way north. He could understand them, with a father like that he too would have wanted to get as far away from him as possible, both physically and in lifestyle.

Helcanar sort of cringed a wee bit, it took the skilled eyes of a healer to see it and Elrond put on his most compassionate face. Luckily he was able to look like compassion incarnate even if he loathed the patient. "Elrond…I…"

Helcanar was a bit hoarse. "I can trust in your discretion yes?"

Elrond nodded. "Healer patient confidentiality yes, I will never speak of my patients and never reveal their problems to anyone"

He gestured towards a chair. "Please, be seated and tell me how I may be of service?"

Helcanar made a sort of groan. "I'd rather not, ah, they say you are the best healer there is"

Elrond sort of guessed that this was something rather delicate, he tilted his head. "Yes, the maiar are of course better"

Helcanar groaned again. "I can't go see them, I can't let anyone know…Oh Eru!"

He sort of bent over and made a grimace of pain and Elrond stared at the ellon with confusion and growing worry. "Lord Helcanar, I am a healer, I have seen everything, believe me. What is the matter?"

Helcanar sort of managed to smile but the smile was a very narrow one and sweat was flowing off him in a steady stream. " I…I spent the entire journey on my knees in the carriage. I…"

He gasped for air. " I have had…a mishap"

Elrond frowned. "A mishap, well, please follow me into the next room and tell me about it"

Helcanar nodded and followed Elrond into the room they used for examinations. Elrond had a suspicion now, the problems was clearly a very painful one and that he didn't want to sit was a tell tale sign. Could the haughty lord be suffering from hemorrhoids? He was probably so up-tight he shat bricks. The room was very clean and white and some found that reassuring, Helcanar got even more pale and he seemed to crumble in front of the healer, his haughty appearance disappeared and now he only looked pitiful and scared. "Swear you won't tell anyone?"

Elrond sighed. "I swear it by Eru, so, what is the matter?"

Helcanar almost sobbed, he bit his lower lip. " I…I have done…I have sinned …Oh Eru forgive me!"

Elrond cocked his head. "Sinned? I fear you have to give me the details here"

The vanyar elf threw Elrond a glance filled with so much shame Elrond realized that Helcanar was a very unhappy person indeed, carrying a mask the whole time and being mortally afraid of anyone seeing through his pious charade. Elrond did remember what someone had told him back in middle earth, those who are most hostile against what they see as sin are usually the ones most drawn to it and afraid of acknowledging such deviant thoughts in their own minds. Helcanar took a deep breath. " I have…something stuck…back there"

Elrond almost laughed, but he managed to hold it in. He remembered that his sons once had solved a problem like that when he was away. It too had been a very haughty and pious person and he too had waited for too long to get help. " Something, could you be a bit more precise?"

Helcanar sobbed again. "It is a…toy!"

Elrond couldn't believe it and yet he had to, he took a deep breath. "Have you gotten your wife to shove something up there and it has gotten stuck? That is serious"

The vanyar shuddered. "Not my wife"

Elrond raised an eyebrow in a manner which had made his sons run for cover when they were young. "A mistress?!"

Helcanar shook his head, he was pale as a sheet. "No….ah…an ellon…a page working at the palace."

Elrond was shocked, not only did this oh so holy ellon cheat on his wife but he did it with an ellon, and not only that. A page was a very young person not yet old enough to serve as a warrior or knight. So this pious vanya who openly attacked gay couples did enjoy the company of very young Ellyn? Oh this was so precious!

Elrond smiled, a very stiff smile. "That is no business of mine, but now I have to examine you, for how long had the toy been stuck?"

Helcanar closed his eyes. "Two days"

Elrond almost gaped. Two days? That was dangerous to say the least and he understood why the ellon looked so distressed. "Right, get your robes off and lay down on the bench over there, face down."

Helcanar cringed and removed his clothes rather slowly, Elrond had to blink a bit. The vanyar ellon had a lot of tattoos in places where they didn't show and he knew that the vanyar saw such things as distasteful and primitive. And he also had bruises which showed Elrond that he did enjoy it a bit rough, and being on the receiving end. " I understand that you are the bottom right? "

Helcanar nodded. " Yes, I am so sorry! I…I can't help it…"

Elrond sighed, "There is nothing wrong with that, but you are cheating on your spouse, haven't she discovered this?"

Helcanar shook his head. "We do not share a room anymore, we have gotten the children she wanted and now she won't accept me in her bed again. She is the perfect wife the way our society sees it, demure and humble and very chaste."

Elrond felt a need to roll his eyes. The belief that such activities were only to be indulged in to procreate had ruined many lives. "I see, so, let us see"

Helcanar was a rather lithe ellon with little muscle and he did look rather gaunt. But Elrond immediately saw that he was badly swollen and the thing was not to be seen. It had to be lodged on the inside and Elrond took a deep breath and braced himself. "You have to tell me what sort of toy we are talking about, is it stuck far in?"

It was actually too precious, the elf who had been a pain in the ass for everybody at the market was now experiencing karma in all its glory. Helcanar gasped as Elrond moved his legs to the side to see better. " It is…like an egg, I don't know how far in it is"

Elrond bit his lower lip, perfect. Nothing to grasp onto and probably stuck very deep too. He just knew that this was gonna be tricky to say the least. "How large is it?"

Helcanar sort of showed Elrond with a hand and the healer cringed, right! The idea of having something that huge shoved up your back side didn't appeal to him in the least, but he guessed it was all about what you were used to. Helcanar moaned. "I haven't been able to…do my business, and my stomach cramps a lot"

Elrond felt a need to smack the skinny bottom hard, to teach the ellon a lesson. " Listen, you have to tell me exactly what happened, and for the love of Eru, please reconsider your values?"

Helcanar just moaned and rolled his eyes. "But…if the other's hear about this…I will lose all respect!"

Elrond got a set of gloves and a canister of a very slick ointment they usually used when they helped delivering elflings. Helcanar saw the gloves and Elrond could see that he moved his lips, probably in prayer. "So, what happened?"

Helcanar closed his eyes, sort of hid his face against the bench. " It was…new! My…friend…and me, we hadn't tried one of those before and he just poured oil on it and …pushed it in"

Elrond frowned. "Without preparing you I recon? "

The vanyar elf nodded slowly. "It felt good at first, but after I…came, it wouldn't move at all"

Elrond cursed under his breath. "Your lover is rather young and inexperienced then?

Helcanar gasped. "Yes, I…I do love him, it isn't his fault. I don't want to lose him, he is the only one I have really loved ever"

Elrond suddenly felt sorry for Helcanar, he hadn't believed that it was possible but now he saw the mental anguish and the horrible stress of constantly having to hide your true self. Helcanar was probably terribly troubled by his own choice of life style and suffered a lot. The attacks and the flaring anger towards those the vanyar saw as deviant were just an attempt to prove that he was nothing like them, to hide his true self, and perhaps also an expression of envy. The healer poured some of the ointment onto his hand and laid the other one on the small of Helcanar's back. "Relax, this is going to be unpleasant but it has to be done."

He saw that the ellon tensed up and started to shiver all over and his pity did grow, this ellon was in fact a prisoner of a society which tried to squeeze everybody into the same little box of conformity and those who didn't fit were immediately seen as misfits. He inserted a finger rather gently and felt the swelling, this was odd. If Helcanar's lover had used oil on the toy it should have slipped back out again rather easily, they were made to do that. The entrance to his body was rather red and the skin looked irritated and Elrond got a suspicion which quickly got stronger. "Tell me, what sort of oil did your lover use?"

Helcanar turned his head and looked confused. "Ah, I am not sure? Does that matter?"

Elrond nodded. "It does, it matters a lot. You shouldn't happen to remember what it smelled like, its color? Anything?"

Helcanar sort of blushed. " Uh, we were in the basement, and he just found a jar and used it. It did smell a bit like…soap and pine-needles?"

Elrond cringed. "Were you in the rooms used for washing perhaps?"

Helcanar looked a bit confused. "Yes? How do you know?"

Elrond smiled, a stiff smile. "Because the stuff he used wasn't oil, it was a concoction normally used to remove grease from cloth. No wonder you are in pain, and no wonder the toy got stuck. It got bone dry once the moisture of the liquid got absorbed by your body. It only stays slick on hard surfaces."

Helcanar blinked, he looked as if he didn't really believe a word Elrond said and yet he did. He let his head fall down. "Oh no, what then?"

Elrond sighed and made a grimace. "There is only one way, and it will hurt. The alternative is surgery and that will be very dangerous so I prefer that we avoid that"

Helcanar sobbed again and he looked like someone who has been thoroughly beaten. "Then do it, please. I cannot bare it any longer, it hurts!"

Elrond nodded and got the syringe they used when they had to administer an enema. He filled it with some very slick lube and injected the whole syringe, it made Helcanar pant and gasp and tears were flowing down his cheeks. It had to be very painful indeed and Elrond did feel some reluctant admiration for the ellon, most others would have been screaming by now. He waited for a few moments before he went over to a cupboard and gathered an instrument they used if a child got stuck in its mother during birth. It was a sort of rounded forceps and they looked rather intimidating so Elrond made sure that Helcanar didn't see them. Normally he would have called for his assistant but he felt that he had to deal with this alone.

He managed to get the forceps into place and then he pushed them forwards until he felt something hard. The forceps were made to fit around the skull of a baby and they did fit rather snuggly around the toy too but he had to wiggle it around a bit to get a grasp and Helcanar was crying now, trembling and sobbing like a child. Elrond patted him on the shoulder. "Now, this is gonna be awkward but I need you to get up onto your knees, and when I tell you to push you have to do that with all you have got, understood?"

Helcanar whimpered but he did obey, at least he was very brave physically. He got up onto his knees with slow movements that didn't disturb the instrument and then Elrond gave him the signal to push. Helcanar did try, in fact he almost tried too hard and Elrond had to ask him to slow down a bit so the toy didn't cause any more damage. He pulled carefully and the thing did move, very slowly and very reluctantly and Helcanar held his hand in front of his mouth not to scream. He was really quite brave and Elrond knew that he could have been a so much happier and more friendly person if he had done some other choices in life.

Finally the toy sort of let go and Elrond pulled it out in one tug, Helcanar let out a keening sound and collapsed onto the bench and Elrond was shocked by the sheer size of the thing. It was wider than his fist. He had pulled objects out of the bottoms of others quite a few times but never anything that wide. Helcanar just laid there gasping for air and Elrond swiftly inserted some healing salve and an ointment which numbed pain, the vanyar elf just laid there, passive and weeping still, very silently. The healer got over to the closets and got a roll of soft absorbing cloth, he presented it to Helcanar who stared at it with red eyes and confusion. "What is that?"

Elrond sighed. "It is a diaper, you will be leaking for a day or two, so use it or risk soiling yourself"

Helcanar whimpered and Elrond helped him redress, he was still sweaty and shaking but he would get better. There had been no permanent damage at least. Helcanar sobbed. "You must think I am a terrible person"

Elrond shook his head. " I think you are a terribly lonely and unhappy person, if I were you I would reconsider my life and make some changes. If you continue this way you will end up being hated by everybody, even those you try to suck up to by being such a jack ass!"

Helcanar whimpered. " I am just so afraid, of…of failing, Everybody has expected so much of me and I…I have tried to live up to them but it haven't felt right"

Elrond put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently. "Then do what feels right, follow your heart and don't let those fools dictate you. It isn't what we elves were created for at all, just take a look at the avarin elves, they know how to live, embrace that and you will be so much happier"

Helcanar stared at the floor, still blushing and rather humble. " I will, thank you my lord, I am…very grateful"

Elrond smiled. "Just heed my advice and avoid scenes like that at the market and you will be fine. And remember, make sure to use real lube for the future"

Helcanar blushed like a beet and nodded and then he sort of waddled out of the door, eyes on the floor and his body language one of utter shame. Calorno entered when the vanyar had left, his eyes were huge. "What was wrong with him? Had he been crying?! What did you do to him?!"

Elrond shrugged. "Helped him getting rid of a small problem"

He discretely hid the bowl with the toy so his assistant couldn't see it, that thing would be burned first thing in the morning. Calorno looked shocked still. "Small problem?! Heck, if he had been a female I would have bet that she just had given birth to an elephant. I am no fool Elrond, I just never imagined that a vanyar would know how to have a good time in the bedroom, or even know that there are toys available"

Elrond just shrugged. "Well, maybe not so small, but don't tell anyone of this, I swore to keep it a secret and you are going to be a healer and have to learn how to keep your mouth shut"

Calorno sighed" Fine, alright, I won't tell anyone. But it would have been so wonderful to let people know that this uppity haughty valar worshiping jerk likes to get rammed in the ass"

Elrond sort of sighed. "Believe me, it wouldn't have done anything good, let it rest. Time will show if he has learned"

Two weeks later Elrond and Celebrian did go to visit Maedhros and Rûsa, the elfling had gotten a foal from Celebrimbor after a small mishap which involved the sun and a nap, and were beside himself with joy. He was all over the place eagerly telling Elrond everything the foal had done and how he was to be trained and how much he ate and everything until Maedhros had to tell him to shut it. Celebrian had brought a very nice piece of silk for Maedhros, she wanted something to make a new shawl out of and the ladies were discussing fashion and Elrond didn't really pay attention at all until Maedhros placed her tea cup on the table and grinned. " I bet you haven't heard the latest gossip from Valmar?"

Celebrian tilted her head. "No?"

Maedhros had a pleased expression on her face. "It concerns a certain Vanyar lord, Helcanar"

Elrond suddenly listened again, very intently. "The horrible ellon who caused that scene at the market?"

Maedhros nodded. "The one and same yes, a week ago he just packed his stuff, left his wife and his entire estate and went south towards the forests. They say a very pretty young ellon was travelling with him, seems like he had a few secrets, not so small ones in fact"

Elrond did feel an odd sensation of relief, so Helcanar had managed to gather his courage after all and done the right thing.

Maedhros continued. "The vanyar are in an uproar, he was so devoted to the worship and such a prime example of vanyarin virtue. Guess nobody saw that coming at all"

Celebrian just blinked. "What about his wife?"

Maedhros giggled. "Now, here is the best part, he had been cheating on her with that pretty page, but she had in fact been cheating on him as well, with more than a dozen different ellyn so none of them were as perfect as they tried to fool everybody into believing. I guess the vanyar have more skeletons hidden in their closets than anyone can imagine"

Elrond just nodded, he just felt relieved that at least one poor soul had managed to get out of the closet and into the light and he hoped that Helcanar would face a better life now, free from the chains of the strict unwritten rules he had been choked by his entire life. Sooner or later the vanyar too would have to see the light, he just prayed it would happen soon, before he got more visits like Helcanar. It had been the kind of job he would prefer never to do again.


	5. Feeling blue

Chapter five: Feeling blue

The healer was enjoying a quiet evening off, his sons were running the hospital and he did trust their skills. Elladan and Elrohir were good at this and they were so charming and calm they never had problems with even the most ornery of patients. Elrond had brought his wife this evening, they were strolling through the streets of the coastal city and enjoying the warm evening and the gentle breeze from the sea. It was a very calm day, no markets or anything and they just enjoyed being together. Celebrian had visited her mother and was enthusiastic about her mother's newest project. Galadriel was planning on opening a school for the daughters of the upper class, to teach them a few things about life which their mother's probably couldn't. Some of the high born ladies had no clue whatsoever about the realities of the world outside of their shielded little social circle.

Elrond had to snigger thinking about the results, if Galadriel had her way the young ellith would learn how to hunt, how to use weapons too, and probably return to their families as strong and independent females who no longer would bow to conformity. It could be interesting, to say the least! Celebrian was eagerly chatting away and they entered one of the main streets, many elves were busy with their everyday work and Celebrian let out a small peal of joy. "Beloved, look! That shop has got that new cloth!"

Elrond had to roll his eyes, ellith! Celebrian was very fond of fashion and she did make sure that she did look amazing all the time. Not that he objected to this, but sometimes his purse would become rather empty when she had one of her shopping sprees. The cloth was a new one, introduced to the court just a week earlier and already it was so sought after it was almost impossible to get your hands on a roll of it. It was a sort of silk produced by mixing several different types of fiber with spider silk and the silk of silk worms and the most amazing thing about it was the color. It had an intense and very beautiful deep blue color and Elrond had to admit that it was very lovely. The cloth did shimmer in the light and Celebrian was already in front of the shop, trying to lower the prize. The shopkeeper refused and Celebrian turned to Elrond, using her huge blue eyes for all they were worth. " Beloved? Please? It is the only roll left!"

Elrond moaned inwards, his purse already felt almost empty and he took a deep sigh and handed her the rest of his sourly earned money. She would look amazing in a gown sewn from that cloth, that was his comfort. She always got very affectionate when she had gotten something nice and new, he would benefit from that. If she managed to make a good gown from that cloth he was sure to get his reward, in bed. She paid and giggled with joy as she carried the cloth over her shoulder, he did feel how love made his heart swell when he looked at her. Here she had indeed regained her joy and her energy and returned to the person she had been before her attack. They returned to the house arm in arm and Celebrian made the cook make something special for them, just to celebrate the purchase. She wanted to hire the best seamstress she knew of and she had plans already, the gown would be decorated with silver ribbons and maybe some dark blue gems and it would be wonderful.

Elrond was very satisfied when he fell asleep that night and he knew that his sons had kept the hospital in perfect order while he had the evening off. He was almost looking forward to getting back to work the next day, it would most certainly be a quiet day.

The forests of Oromë were huge, and several tribes of avarin and silvan elves called them home. Here they lived the life they had gotten accustomed to back in middle earth and they rarely bothered with the outside world. They had their own culture and language and they were happy there. This very night was a special one, the night of the great hunt. One night each year the avarin and silvan tribes would gather and together they would chose some warriors who were to be tested before they were allowed to join the ranks of the adults. It was a sacred rite and those chosen would be regarded as the best of the best, it did take a lot of practice and it did also include quite a lot of responsibility. These youngsters were potential chiefs, capable of one day starting their own clan, moving away from the one they were born into and conquering new land.

This hunt was to be held in an area of ragged hills and deep grooves of trees, the terrain very difficult and challenging and each of the youngsters had been given a task specially designed for that individual. To achieve their goals they had to co-operate well, nobody would be able to finish their task alone, it was impossible. The very idea of the hunt was that they challenged themselves and showed that they could both lead and take advice, that they could work as an unit and use the ideas of others well. Twenty youngsters were ready and the chiefs of the clans and tribes had gathered, all clad in their best clothing and looking rather intimidating. This was serious business but if everybody managed to fulfill their task there would be a great feast and in some cases the young warriors would receive a new name, an adult one. Each one would step forth and receive their task from their own chief or leader and this task was only theirs, they had to use the others as helpers but the deed itself had to be their own.

The woodclan had many members and it was among the greatest of the clans, their leader Taurion stood proudly in front of his best hunters and warriors, his dark red hair shone in the light from the bonfires and he did look very content. Four of their young were to get tested this day and it was such a great joy. The clan was growing each year, here there were no dangers and the elves did reproduce like never before. The future did look bright. Taurion was surrounded by some of his sons, he was among the elves with the most offspring since he had been forced to be a breeding slave in Angband and most of his sons and daughters had joined his clan when they were reborn or entered Aman. With fifteen baseborn offspring he had indeed proved his fertility but now it was more than enough, he and his wife would not have more children since they had two of their own and had to take care of his rather huge flock of kids. The bonfires were roaring high and the youngsters were ready, their tasks were given and the shaman leading the ceremony raised his arms. "In the name of Oromë, in the honor of Oromë, go forth and fulfill thy task, Yavanna be with you all"

The young warriors cheered and ran off in a tight group, they had until sundown the next day to fulfil their tasks and Taurion smiled. Their tasks were difficult, and required that they were thinking outside of the box. He wondered who would make the most spectacular catch, he hoped it would be one of the young ones from his clan. He had high hopes indeed. The elves gathered there returned to their tents, nothing would happen now until the next evening and many were tired after a lot of celebrations and dancing and needed to rest. Taurion yawned and stretched, he made a grimace. There was a change in the wind, and the moon had disappeared behind some dense clouds. It would probably rain, he just hoped that wouldn't cause any problems for the youngsters out there. They were young and strong and filled with zeal, he just hoped they would be careful. They were woodelves, they knew of the dangers the wood contained and would of course stay clear of any really dangerous situations, at least he hoped they would.

The next day came with rain, and not just a little rain. It was pouring down as if someone up there were emptying whole buckets out of the skies and everything was drenched. The rain was rather warm but getting wet is never pleasant and many got a bit concerned. The terrain was the sort which can become very treacherous during rainstorms with flashfloods and avalanches and the chieftains made a decision. They would go out there and call the hunt off, there were no reason why anybody should risk their lives, the hunt could be held later on. A few days or weeks were nothing for an elf. The most skilled and experienced warriors took off and the chiefs just hoped that nothing had happened to the young warriors. There had never been any accidents during the hunt and they had hoped that this would continue, now everybody had gotten nervous, normally at least one would have returned already with his task finished.

The youngsters had split into two groups, ten in each group and now one of the groups were seeking refuge underneath a cliff, there was a small cave there and the deluge had turned the ground soggy and slippery. Six of the ten had already fulfilled their tasks, and they held the proof tightly to their chests. The four who hadn't managed to find the object they were sent to retrieve were in despair, two were of the wood clan and two from a silvan clan who called themselves the lynx clan. They both had dark lines tattooed from the corners of their eyes and the tips of their ears had been tattooed black too. This clan was renowned for being very stealthy and good fighters and they were amazing in the trees. The two youngsters named Corch and Fileg sat there looking terribly miserable, not finishing would be such a huge shame and disappointment and they were sulking. Corch had to find a special sort of flower which only grew in the very top of extremely tall trees, he had a problem with a phobia against heights and so the challenge was well chosen by the chief.

Fileg was afraid of very large animals and had to get fur from the tail of a living stag. He sat there shivering slightly, there was no chance for him even finding a buck now, all animals had sought shelter. The two wood clan youngsters were Alphen and Crabandes, the only female among them, She was afraid of water and had to find a rare mussel which thrived on the bottom of the deep pools within the slow running rivers. Alphen was a terrible archer who couldn't hit a barn if he stood in the middle of it and so they had wanted him to shoot four of the very fast and tasty pheasants which lived in these woods. The birds were huge and tough and you had to be really good to be able to shoot four of them. You had to have someone move ahead of you, making the birds take flight at the right distance, or else you were chanceless. Right now he had managed to shoot one bird and that one bird had been ill and was inedible. He was not feeling very optimistic.

The rain was pouring down and they knew that time was running short, one of the six who had fulfilled their task sort of sighed. "We cannot stay here, we'll get nothing done"

The others stared at him and Medlindir shrugged. "Listen, we have all helped each other right, so let us help the last of us finish too. It is just rain, we will be careful. I bet there are birds trying to seek shelter in the groove of oaks we passed yesterday, and mussels in the river. And I am sure I saw a mallorn on the hill. We can do it, if we just cooperate"

The others stared at each other, shrugged. They were wet already, like drowned cats and they were friends, they didn't want anybody to return without having finished. They got up and Medlindir smiled. "Here is how we do it, we split into two groups yet again, one follows

Corch and Fileg and one Alphen and Crabandes, alright? That way we can finish this fast"

All nodded and they split up and left, hoping they could return to the camp soon. They were hungry and tired and longed for the warmth of the tents, dry clothes and perhaps even a bit of wine.

Corch did find the mallorn and it was enormous but he was sure he would find a specimen of the rare orchid on top of it, he just had to gather all his courage and climb the giant tree. The others followed him up and when they reached the upper third of the trunk they started using ropes. Corch were shivering with fear, he had never been this high of the ground before and he felt as if he would fall to his death any second but he did climb on, slowly and with moaning sounds. The rope was solid and well woven and would hold if he did fall but still the drop could kill you. He managed to get to the upper branches and slowly he crept out towards a branch which split in two, it was the ideal spot for that beautiful flower and indeed, one did grow right there, bright blue and it looked almost as if it was made from glass. Corch grasped it gently and placed the flower inside of his tunic, he refused to look down, he was hundreds of feet above the forest floor and refused to think of it.

He slowly made his way back down and was cheered by the others as his feet touched ground once more. He felt like falling to his knees kissing the dirt, he was shaking all over and completely drained of energy. The others hugged him and praised him, soon they could return to the camp, they just had to find a stag.

The animals had sought shelter, and before long they did find a herd of deer. It was standing in the end of a narrow valley underneath some low bushy trees and the animals were nervous. There was a stag there, a giant with antlers four times wider than his body, and he was the largest stag any of them had ever seen. The animal snorted, he had smelled the elves and walked forth, swinging his head in a display of sheer strength. He didn't fear elves, they did hunt but they never took more than they needed and he already knew that these young ones didn't want to kill anything. They didn't smell like predators on the prowl and they moved rather openly. The stag stared at them, one of the young elves did look very nervous, such an odd fawn he was, eyes flickering and hands shaking. He bowed his head and took a step forward. " Mighty one, please, allow me to cut a small tuft of hairs from thy tail"

The stag snorted, now these elves were odd indeed but he did understand. These were young fawns trying to prove their worth and why not. These elves couldn't harm him and he nodded his head. One day he might get felled by an elf but not until he had sired many fawns and ruled his territory for many summers. The elf walked forth and reached up with trembling hands, the stag was very tall and the white hairs of the tail wet but Fileg managed to cut some hair from it and hid them in his belt pocket. He bowed deeply. "I thank thee great one"

He felt so relieved, he had always had a strong fear of huge animals and some believed that he had been killed by a warg or some other great beast in his first life. He had been reborn as an elfling with no memories and perhaps that was for a reason. The stag snorted and trotted back to his does and the young elves took a deep sigh of relief. They could return now. They stood there discussing which route to take when a scent reached them, it made the does and the stag raise their heads and stomp and the young elves got nervous. It was the scent of wild boar and they could be very dangerous. The lack of sunlight and the pouring rain made it hard to determine from whence the scent came and they gathered in a tight group, trying to see if there were any boar nearby.

Then it happened and it happened so fast none had time to really react, there was a crashing sound coming from the bushes next to them and then something massive shot forth, at a tremendous speed. It was a huge boar, a male with tusks the size of short swords and it was angry. It had a huge gash over its shoulders and the small red eyes were filled with sheer rage, the pain of its injury made it mad, forced it to attack anything which moved,. The boar tore into the small group and the young elves didn't have time to get out of the way. It hit one of them and threw the unfortunate ellon into the air, then it turned around and attacked yet another elf, tossing that one too like a ragdoll. By now the stag had spotted the angry beast and he came running forth, tossing his head and letting out a bellowing sound of rage. The massive stag lowered his head and caught the boar with his antlers, pierced its side and threw the huge boar like a toy against a rock. The boar squealed and hit the rock with a sickening thud before it sank to the ground with its back broken.

The elves just gasped, it had happened so fast and now they saw that both the young Ellyn were wounded, the one named Golwan lay on the ground writhing with a long gash in his leg going from his knee to his groin and it was bleeding profusely. The other one, Drauchon was unconscious and he had a torn hand and huge gaping wound in his side from one of the tusks. He had hit his head against a rock as he fell and now they all realized that the normally harmless hunt had turned into something completely different. Lives were at stake, for the first time in the history of the hunt.

The other group had moved through the forest in silence until they reached the river. They had discovered a pond where they could see the mussels on the bottom and Crabandes had a hard time finding the courage to get in. She had almost drowned once as a kid and now being submerged almost made her panic. The solution was her diving with someone by her side and a rope being tied to her waist so she could be hauled up if something went wrong. She managed to get a couple of mussels up and that was enough, she had conquered her own fear and she was very proud of herself. Medlindir hugged her afterwards and praised her and now it was only Alphen left. He had to find some birds and shoot them and it proved to be hard. The rain made the birds perch close to the tree trunks where they were as good as invisible and for a couple of hours they didn't see anything moving at all. Then they came across a group of thick and tall pine trees and spotted a small flock of birds among the branches. This was Alphen's chance and he sent the others forth to get the birds airborne while he stood there with his bow ready.

The ground was very soggy there, and the trees stood in a slope which was pretty steep. The elves moved carefully and slowly they advanced forward, the birds did see them but didn't want to fly now, it was raining too hard and one of the other Ellyn, a tall dark haired one named Halphon grasped a rock to toss it at the branch were the birds were perched. He got too much momentum from his move and slipped and fell onto his butt in the mud, the others looked half amused and half annoyed but then things changed within the blink of an eye. The ground started moving and Medlindir gasped. A landslide, the entire hillside was slipping. The heavy rain had turned the soil into just thin mud and not even the roots of the trees could hold it together anymore. He yelled at the others. "Grasp onto something, try to get into the trees!"

Wood elves are agile, and they do react fast so all dropped whatever they were carrying and scurried up into the trees. Remarkably the trees still stood straight up even when they were heading downhill at an insane speed. There was a horrible thunderous sound of rocks and trees being tossed around like toys and the mud was so liquid it almost moved like thin concrete. Crabandes screamed and she was clinging onto the tree she was in with all her might, Garaf and Halphon sat in another tree, a smaller one, and it was toppling over slowly. The two elves tried to jump over onto another tree but failed, the tree hit the moving dirt with tremendous force and they were tossed into the landslide itself Halphon managed to cling onto a broken log but Garaf simply disappeared into the mud and everybody screamed. The landslide slowed down and stopped, it had hit the slope on the other side of the small valley and there was nowhere to go. Halphon was screaming still, in pain. His legs were trapped deep within the mud and it was pretty obvious that he had gotten seriously injured. Garaf was nowhere to be seen and Medlindir tried to determine where he could be. Medlindir had always been the leader type so he took command and got the others to search for Garaf as he tried to help Halphon. He was too stuck, the log he had held onto was pinning him in the mud and it was too heavy to move.

Cugwion waved his hand at Medlindir. "Here, I think it is Garaf"

They all ran through the thick mud and Cugwion dug into the mud like mad, a boot stuck out from the mud and they were using their bare hands to get rid of the gooey mass. It was Garaf, and he was laying with his head down into the mud and he wasn't breathing. His upper body had an odd angle and Medlindir didn't even need to touch him to know he was dead. His back had to have been snapped in several places and they all sort of collapsed. None of them had ever seen death before, it was incomprehensible to them. Medlindir managed to get a hold of himself. "Crabandes, take Alphen and go for help. We have got to get Halphon out of the mud before the tree crushes him. The mud settles, it will be like mortar soon."

The two just nodded and ran, terrified and shocked, they had to find help, they had to find help right away!

The warriors sent out to retrieve the youngsters soon met the first group of ten elves, they were heading back since they all had finished their task and everybody let out a sigh of relief. At least some of their young ones were safe. They told the ten to head straight for the camp and they ran off, trying to find the last half of the group. They hadn't come far before they were met by a very upset stag which acted in a most peculiar manner and as woodelves they all knew that they had to react to this. They followed the stag and soon the horrible truth was revealed. They got busy trying to stem the blood and build stretchers to carry the two wounded young Ellyn when two other young elves came crashing through the bushes, covered with mud and absolutely terrified. Before long there were elves running everywhere and the stag allowed a couple of the older more experienced elves to ride his does so they could get back to the camp fast. The situation was grim, very grim indeed.

Elrond was sweating like mad, he was working on a toddler who had managed to cut his foot on a shard of broken pottery and the mother was hysterical. The kid wasn't that much of a problem, he was rather stoic and was sucking his thumb, staring with huge eyes at the healer who tried to sew up the gaping gash without getting the mothers hair caught in his sutures. She was more or less hanging over him trying to make sure that her little one wasn't in pain. The healer wished that he could have tossed the mother out, sometimes when he was dealing with kids they acted way more controlled without the parents present. This kid was calm as a cucumber but not all were that nice. Elladan and Elrohir was tending to a young ellon who had been kicked by a horse and Elrond just hoped that they managed to fix it, he had gotten hit square in the groin and Elrond feared that one of the young males testicles had been smashed. He could manage with just one, but if it was dead it had to be removed and that was a tricky operation.

He finished suturing the gash and smiled, wiping sweat from his brow. The job was a simple one but the mother's constant stream of words sort of ticked him off. He needed concentration to be able to make pretty stitches which wouldn't leave a scar and that was close to impossible with that nervous female trying to soothe her toddler and reprimanding him for being too rough at the same time. Too rough, he scoffed, she ought to have seen him at work after the Dagorlad. He had amputated legs and arms off wounded elves with only a shaving knife borrowed from some adan and a small saw made to cut twigs. Now that had been rough, with screams and blood and gore.

He watched the mother leave with the kid on her arm and he let out a sigh of relief. This ought to be alright now, the elfling would heal very well, such little ones always did. He washed his hands and felt a bit hungry, he was sauntering towards the small kitchen they had there when he heard a carriage driving into the yard. There was shouting and calls and he just knew that there would be no snacking now, he groaned and rolled his eyes and ran off. It was at least five adult elves out there, two ellith and three Ellyn and they appeared to be two different families using the same carriage. All were richly clad and he was sure he had seen at least one of the ellith at some important ball held by the high king. These were upper class elves and their clothes and jewelry and the carriage itself told of great wealth but also style. The patients were two young ellith, not yet come of age but close and both were unconscious and having spasms all over.

Elrond took a deep breath, he felt his guts churn, this was serious, oh Eru it was very serious. The two ellith were foaming at the mouth and both looked flushed and sweaty. The Ellyn saw him and one of them rushed forth. "Please, our daughters, they need help, now!"

Elrond swore and shouted orders to the servants and his assistants came rushing too, alerted by the whinnying horses and the shouts. They carried the two convulsing females into the hospital and placed them on beds, Elrond was afraid they would swallow their tongue and suffocate since they were seizing that hard. He had never seen anything like it. He stared at the assembled elves, the parents of both girls and one ellon who had to be a fiancée or something like that. He took a deep breath, steadied himself. "What happened? Where do you come from?"

The mother of one of the ellith spoke up, she was a very beautiful noldo with dark brown hair and soft hazel eyes and Elrond knew that he had met her before, but he couldn't just place her right now. She was sobbing. "We are from Tirion, I work for his majesty designing his robes and the gowns of the queen. We are on a holiday right now, visiting the coast and my daughter Lalaith and Serabess here have been friends since they were toddlers and were on the beach when they both started acting oddly"

Elrond moaned inwards, on the beach! There were so many things they could have come into contact with there. "Did they eat anything, touch something odd? "

The elleth shook her head. "No, they were just dancing in the sand when they sort of got dizzy and then nauseous. At first we thought they had over exerted themselves and needed water but it didn't help and then Lalaith lost consciousness and then Serabess too. We drove here as fast as the horses could go really."

Elrond checked their feet, no sores or wounds. Their hands were clean, nothing in their mouths. Both were very pretty and wore tightly laced dresses in the fashionable new blue fabric and it did look stunning on them, he had to admit that. They were still convulsing and he was afraid they would harm their ligaments and joints if this continued. He got busy, got the parents to undress the girls even if that was a hard job with the spasms and then he got his assistants busy too. They mixed a concoction which relaxed muscles and he also made them add some herbs which neutralized most toxins. These two had been poisoned, no doubt about that but how.

"Have they been out on their own lately? Could they have eaten something bad?"

The young ellon shook his head. "No, I am Serabess fiancée and I have spent every hour with them, we did visit a sea side restaurant yesterday but the food was excellent and it has an excellent reputation. It was the Red lobster"

Elrond nodded, he had eaten at that restaurant too and there were never any problems there. Darn, this was something odd. The seizures stopped but both females were still unconscious and it had just stilled the symptoms, not the cause behind them. What could this be? Two healthy young ellith sick at the same time? Like that? It was unheard of!

"Nobody could have slipped them something? Something toxic?"

Lalaith's mother shrugged. "Why would anyone do that? We have no enemies"

The father of Serabess took a step forth. "My family are responsible for the gardens of prince Finarfin, it is not a job anybody envies us for that one is rather demanding and why attack two innocent young females when I am out in public every day trying to buy new flowers and exotic plants?"

Elrond sighed, yes why indeed. The ellith were stable at the moment but for how long? He had to get to the bottom of this. It was important! He told the parents and the fiancée to leave the room and he did examine the two very thoroughly, but they seemed to be completely normal, except from the fact that they were trapped within a continuous row of seizures. It was horrible not to be able to do anything and he clenched his jaw together so hard he got a headache. Where was the cause? He knew that humans are prone to meningitis but elves don't get that sort of diseases and he was very sure that this was some sort of poison.

Elladan and Elrohir joined him after a while, they would have to keep the wounded ellon there for a few days just to check his progress and they got just as stunned as their father when they saw the two females. Elrond told his assistants to keep giving the two medicine every hour, both of his apprentices had the day off since they had been working rather hard lately and now he missed them. They were rather skilled already and he felt in his guts that he would need many clever minds present to solve this. He finally managed to get some food and a little wine and he was going through his library of medicinal journals when he heard another carriage drive into the yard. He stared into nothing, what was this?

He ran out and his sons joined him, it was several ellith crammed into the carriage, all very ill, some convulsing and others just puking but it was obvious that they too were heading towards unconsciousness. It was ten in all and some Ellyn were trying to get them out of the carriage, completely terrified. Elrond couldn't believe it, twelve sick ellith? He shouted at the driver. "Where do you come from?"

The ellon was pale and sweaty and the horses gasping for air, he had almost killed them. "Further up the coast, a village by the north of the bay. It is a holiday reprieve for families from both Tirion and Valmar."

Elrond stared with huge eyes at the ellon, the same village? Oh no, there had to be some connection there! These were also rich young ellith but a couple were mature females who probably had kids of their own and at least four of the sick ellith were vanyar. Whatever it was, it struck regardless of age and ethnic group. He and his sons worked like mad getting more medicine made and into the sick ellith and he was getting very scared now. These females had to have something in common but what?

Then a rider arrived with an unconscious ellon in front of him in the saddle, it was a nobleman from the court of Olwê and he was convulsing like the ellith and was in a bad state and Elrond just knew it, this was the harbinger of a disaster. Lalaith had stopped breathing twice and he had to send for more helpers since the hospital never were meant to handle this many sick elves. Elladan and Elrohir were working very hard too and throughout the day the yard filled with horses, carriages and all sorts of vehicles. A father came with a young boy and a slightly older ellith in a wheelbarrel! Parents were terrified or getting sick themselves and it struck without thinking of age nor gender. But Elrond did notice one thing, the sick were from wealthy families, some were commoners but not poor. There was nobody from the working class families, yet! The healer mixed medicine and worked desperately, the little ones were more sick than the older ones and late that night a boy of just twelve died, there was nothing Elrond could do, his breath stopped and they couldn't get it going again. Elrond feared that this would be the first death of many.

When the sun rose again he had filled the entire hospital and his apprentices and assistants had joined them again, elves were unconscious, puking, convulsing. There were no beds so they had placed many on the floors and others lay in the hallways. Some of the relatives had been sent out to buy more sheets, medicine and other equipment and Elrond received a messenger from the king telling that the same thing happened in almost every city now and it was getting worse by the hour. In Tirion three courtiers had died and in Valmar the death toll was rising at a horrible speed. What in the name of Eru was going on? Elrond knew that there had to be a common cause of this, what in the world of Eru could it be?

Then a new carriage arrived at the hospital and a group of riders surrounded it, all avarin warriors and Elrond first thought that the problem had spread even to the wood elves. The riders were all of the wood clan and he had to rub his eyes, most of them had a striking similarity to each other and they did remind him a lot of a certain noldorin toddler. Almost the same hair, face shape…Then an ellon got out of the wagon and Elrond just glared. He was tall and proud with handsome features and striking dark red hair and Elrond had seen that exact color just once before. He tried to count the younger elves there and it had to be at least half a dozen of them who couldn't be any other's than this male's offspring.

The elf bowed his head and Elrond stared yet again, he just couldn't get over the likeness and the ellon sort of sighed and looked down. "Yes, you are not being fooled by your own eyes my lord, they are all mine. The result of being a breeding slave for Morgoth"

Elrond was still trying to get over the initial shock. " Uh, I…you shouldn't happen to be…ah, well, Rûsa…"

The ellon sent him a rather stiff smile. "Yes, I am Rûsa's sire, whence you have finished staring could we get down to business please? I have some wounded young elves in the carriage, we had a horrible set of accidents during the annual coming of age hunt"

Elrond groaned, oh no, more patients! And already he could see that the elves gathered there were staring at the avari warriors with huge eyes. The upper class elves were not used to seeing such people and the warriors probably shocked many with their shirtless torsos, covered with tattoos and paint and the feathers in their braids and he did see a couple with pierced noses, ears and even one with a pierced nipple. They did look barbaric and the group of relatives sort of retreated, afraid of these wild looking persons. The tall ellon bowed his head again. " I am Taurion,, we have come here because our healers are unable to do anything with these injuries, and our shamans can heal a soul, not a body."

Elrond tried to smile. "As you can see we have a crisis of our own here right now but I will do whatever I can. What injuries are they and how many?"

Taurion gesticulated towards the warriors and two of his sons got off their horses and opened the carriage door. Two stretchers were placed inside. "There are two patients, one other got injured too but our healers could fix it. One ellon died on the spot and the last one here got stuck in the mud, his legs got severely damaged and our healers are way out of their league should they try to do anything. You on the other hand are renowned for having been on Middle earth and having seen battle and gore first hand"

Elrond nodded. "That I have, I have been a war time healer several times, who told you about me?"

Taurion made his sons carry the two wounded Ellyn out of the carriage very carefully. "Maedhros, we do have contact since we have Rûsa together."

Elrond could remember Maedhros as she had been after her capture and rescue, scarred and terrifying and yet a person he had grown to love a lot. He did see why she had recommended him, she had always claimed to be proud of his choices and the ellon he had become. Elrond shouted to Elladan. "Clear one of the small operating rooms, we need it now!"

Elladan ran to follow his order and Taurion stared at the huge gathering of elves with narrow eyes. "What in the name of Orome is happening here?"

Elrond shrugged, he felt terribly stressed right now. "Oh I wish I knew, elves are dropping everywhere or so it seems and they all have the same symptoms"

Taurion looked nervous. "Any deaths?"

Elrond opened the door so the stretchers could be carried inside. He saw that the two young Ellyn were in a very bad state. " We have had three deaths so far, here that is. Two elflings and a young elleth."

Taurion did look even more nervous and Elrond did understand, he was worried about Maedhros and Rûsa. They placed the two wounded Ellyn on a bench each and removed the blankets covering them and Elrond had to turn away for a short moment. One of them had a horrible gash in his leg and the other one had two legs which could only be described as pulp. There couldn't be a bone left unbroken. He realized why these elves had sought his help, the ordinary healers had no experience with traumatic injuries like this. No experience whatsoever.

Taurion was a bit pale. "The one with the gash is Golwan, and the one with the crushed legs is Halphon, they are good Ellyn, please say you can do something?"

Elrond stared at the deep wound in Golwan's leg. "What did this?"

Taurion made a grimace. "A boar, angry and probably a bit mad too. The other ellon it hurt got a concussion, an injured hand and a deep wound but the healers back home could deal with it. They could not do anything about this though."

He removed a piece of bandage and Elrond had to blink. The very bone of the thigh was visible and it seemed as if the tusk had split it down the middle, as if it had been done with a sharp knife. He had never seen an injury like that before, it was bizarre. The tissue damage could be stitched up together again but something like that? Oh Eru, how was he to fix this? He took a deep breath and called Elrohir to him. "Listen, from now on I am busy with these two alright? You and your brother and my apprentices have to deal with anyone arriving with the disease, just give them the medicine we have made and pray nobody else dies. We cannot do anything until we figure out what the cause is."

Elrohir nodded and Elrond went over to Halphon. The legs were just horrible to look at, almost folded in places like an accordion and he touched the toes. One foot was cold, the other warm still and he closed his eyes for a second. "Taurion, this one will lose a leg, that is for sure. I may be able to save the other one but it will take a lot of time."

Taurion just nodded and Elrond realized that he probably was one used to horrors. Breeding slave in Angband, well, that was horror in itself. He made a grimace and started cleaning Golwan's wound thoroughly with wine and some herbal mix. He then examined the odd split bone again. Taurion stayed in there but the others had left the room and Elrond could see through the window that the noldor and vanyar present still had problems acting naturally around these wood elves. He made a gesture towards one of the assistants present. "I need a drill, and the smallest screws you can find, preferably mithril"

The assistant frowned. "Mithril screws? Who has got that?"

Elrond felt how he sort of fell into a state of complete peace, he was doing what he did best, nothing else mattered. "The jeweler down the road, got there now and get at least a dozen. And boil the drill while you are at it, find the thinnest drill bit we have"

The elf made a squeak and left with his robes flying and Elrond already knew how he was to fix Golwan. He had lost a lot of blood and the gash was bad but nothing was missing and that was a blessing. He could be stitched up together but not until the bone was brought back together again. If he was closed up before the bone was stabilized it would snap or even become infested and then the ellon would die for sure.

Halphon on the other hand was a more severe case and Elrond didn't like his breathing. "Did he stay trapped for a long time?"

Taurion nodded. "Yes, for half a day. We had to dig like mad to get him free"

Elrond sighed, crush syndrome. Toxic remnants of dead muscle were flooding the ellons system and it could cause blood cloths, embolisms and kidney failure. He was a mess and if he had been human he would have been dead like a dodo long ago. He got a cloth and some strong liquor and started washing the legs, they did look grotesque and were black and blue. Taurion did seem unaffected and Elrond sort of felt a spark of admiration. Few would remain that calm facing something like that. He tried to keep talking as he worked, that always made him think better.

"So, you met Maedhros in Angband?"

Taurion sort of scoffed and his eyes got dark. "Met or rather, was tossed into her cell and forced to do…well, you understand. Rûsa was the last elfling they managed to make me sire though, I killed myself shortly afterwards. My wife did take me back after my rebirth so now we have a huge family, I guess that sort of makes you tough"

Elrond had to nod, more than ten offspring had to be quite a challenge indeed and his wife one patient elleth. "Do you have any contact with Rûsa and Maedhros these days?"

Taurion helped Elrond move Halphon a little, the wood elves were much less squeamish than the noldor and Elrond was glad the ellon was so calm. It did calm him down in return and helped him focus. "Yes, every now and then."

Elrond checked the backside of the legs, it was just as bad and he groaned. It was indeed horrible. "How is Rûsa doing these days then? It has been a while since I saw him?"

Taurion made a grimace. "Well, a few weeks ago some deranged vanyar fools tried to kidnap him, they thought that Maedhros was unfit to be a mom since she is single and that the lad would be ruined by being raised by such a …dubious…character"

Elrond almost dropped the bowl of liquid he was holding. "What?! Are they nuts? What happened?"

Taurion shrugged. "According to what I have been told Rûsa was out with his teacher Rumil when they tried to grab him, and Rumil went nuts and started throwing books at them. It was quite a spectacle. And then some royal guards arrived and took the vanyar away. I bet they would have regretted it though, Rûsa is no ordinary toddler."

Elrond shivered, he remembered that scarred tortured being that had been Maedhros baseborn son, hateful black eyes and a wild attitude, yes, they would have been shocked indeed. A soul born into slavery, broken and yet untamed, and then reborn as a mere child, he would have revealed his true nature rather fast. A good thing then that it had been prevented.

The assistant returned with the drill and screws and now a very tedious and delicate work followed, Elrond washed his hands carefully and then he slowly got the bone back into one piece again, a screw at a time. It did take two hours, then he sewed the wound back up, left a drain in it and washed it with even more alcohol and then they carried Golwon out into a room for recovery and observation.

Halphon was so much worse, Elrond didn't quite know what to do but he did grasp the leg with circulation and pulled it until it was straight again. The other legs was simply dead, no blood flow and massive nerve damage too. Elrond proved once again that he was among the best, it took him just three minutes to remove the dead leg a bit below the groin. This elf would need a false leg for the rest of his days. Then he injected a lot of fluids and strangely enough he did drain some blood from the wounded elf. He had lost some blood already but Elrond did see that the color of this blood was wrong, it was too dark. So he replaced some of it with saline solution and hoped that the elf wouldn't get an embolism.

The other leg had to be fixed somehow, the bones were reduced to confetti in there, and it was like a stocking made from flesh with broken twigs inside of it. If the situation had been different Elrond would have inserted a thin metal rod into the very bones to strengthen them but it was impossible now. He could just pretend to be an artist shaping a statue and he wrapped the leg in layers of plaster, forming the bones where he could feel them and forcing them into shape again. If luck was on their side they would grow back together again and the ellon would be able to at least carry some weight on the leg. If not, he didn't want to think of it, elves with both legs amputated usually faded rather fast. Their souls couldn't cope with it.

When he was finished he found a glass jar full of leeches and placed them all on the lower part of the leg to force circulation to recover and then they could just pray. He realized that it was dark outside, the moon was up and the avarin elves had built a bonfire and were sitting around it, singing softly. The other elves there had gotten the hayloft and the small janitors apartment to sleep in and they were still suspicious to the avari. None tried to speak to the wood elves and Elrond sighed. He felt dead tired and Elladan came walking to them, he did look like a sleep walker of some sorts. Elrond tried to suppress a yawn. "How is the situation?"

Elladan made a grimace. "Bad, we have one hundred and six patients here now, all with the same symptoms more or less and more are coming. None have died tonight but it has been a close call a few times."

Taurion stared at the groups of vanyar and noldorin relatives, they stood in small groups, praying for their sick kin and most were clearly crying. The wood elf chief pressed his lips together. "This reminds me of the sort of thing Morgoth would do, just to cause grief and sorrow"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, but he is gone, and this has to be something which affects some, not all. There has to be something they all have in common, we have just not found it yet."

The sun was slowly rising and with it a new wave of patients arrived, some were already dead when they arrived and others close to dying and Elrond was sweating like mad, trying to find the cause. He was asking everybody all sorts of questions, trying to determine if they had been in contact with the same people, if they had been to the same place. They hadn't, that was the truth. Some had been to the same towns or cities but others hadn't and they hadn't eaten the same or anything. It was a true mystery. Taurion remained with the two young elves and Elrond feared that the work he had done would be in vain. They were nowhere near safe yet. New carriages arrived every hour and the hospital was more than full, they borrowed some rooms from the neighbor as well.

More deaths occurred and the sound of laments and crying filled the air. Seeing parents grieve their child was heartbreaking, here nobody ever expected to lose a beloved one and some parents became patients too, completely crushed by the shock. By now the entire village had gathered there to help and Elrond did see that some elves he did know had ended up among the patients too, but none of them were very ill, just nauseous and dizzy. Every little detail could tell him something and he tried to force his mind to understand this. Then the two ellith who came first got better, it went slowly but they were on the way to recovery and he did take a deep breath of relief.

It could be conquered, it had to be some sort of toxin and when it left the body it would remove the symptoms. But what toxin were they speaking of here?

The two young ellith soon recovered and were allowed to go to one of the inns of the village to rest and Elrond felt a glimpse of hope. He was busy trying to mix more medicine when Lalaith returned, yet again convulsing and just as bad as last time. Her mother was in despair and Elrond just knew it, this was it. They had to find the reason why she had relapsed thus, she had been almost completely normal when she left the hospital. Her mother got her out of her dress and Elrond managed to get more of the medicine into her. The sight of the spasms was terrifying and some had already injured their muscles and ligaments because of them. Some local females were walking around collecting used sheets and soiled clothes and washed them in a washroom placed by the stable.

One of them came walking by at this moment, she carried a lot of clothes gathered from the patients, most were soiled pretty badly since a seizing person often loses control of their bowels or bladder and some also were covered in puke. Elrond was watching the elleth out of the corner of his eye, the heap of clothes was almost entirely blue since so many fancied that expensive new cloth. Then she suddenly collapsed, her eyes rolled up and she started convulsing violently, just out of the blue and he had a new patient to take care of. One worse than any of the others, the spasms were extreme.

He got her onto a bed and Elladan helped getting her out of her gown and then Elrond just stared at her, her arms were slightly blue? It was of course because of all the wet cloth she had handled, the fabric did leave blue stains when it got wet. Elrond froze, it couldn't be…It was impossible…

He let out a yell and stared at the room with huge eyes, what had every patient in common? They had been active in some way, or out in the sun, getting warm, getting sweaty. Ellith had been dancing or doing chores, Ellyn had worked, or ridden. Elflings had been playing. And what else? Every one had been wearing at least one garment made from that fancy new blue fabric and Elrond let out a sort of groan. Elladan grasped onto him, utter panic in his eyes. "Ada?! Are you getting ill?"

Elrond gasped for air. "No, I have solved it, I have bloody solved it. It is the blue fabric, it is toxic!"

Elladan just stared. "What?!"

Elrond gestured towards the huge group of ill elves. "See? Everybody have been wearing something made from it, all have been getting sweaty and then the fabric sort of loses some color, it is the dye!"

Elladan wetted his lips. "The ones making it have refused to tell anyone how it is made, to make more money?"

Elrond sneered. "Who? And most importantly, where?!"

Elladan swallowed hard. "Ah, it is a cloth maker living near Alqualonde, he is very famous and very rich too. Nobody have been able to get the secret out of him"

Elrond closed his eyes, forced himself to think. "Right, listen carefully. Remove all clothes made from that fabric and burn it, but stay away from the smoke do you hear? And find some fast riders and send them to every city, and one must ride to the kings and tell of this. The blue fabric is lethal, nobody is to wear it and every roll and every garment has to be burned, now!"

Elladan frowned. "Okay? And so?"

Elrond turned on his heel. " I am to visit a certain cloth maker, and force him to tell how that fabric is dyed"

Elladan scoffed. "Good luck, not even Morgoth could make him reveal that secret!"

Elrond sort of smiled, a very ominous looking smile. "Oh no? But I have some reinforcements and I think they will make him reconsider. Saddle my horse, I will be gone for a day"

He ran to the room where Taurion sat guarding the two sick Ellyn and he was eagerly agreeing on letting Elrond borrow the warriors who had followed him and before long Elrond left the hospital followed by a group of ten armed avarin warriors. They rode hard and before the night fell they reached the mansion of the cloth maker. He got the shock of a lifetime being confronted by a whole horde of angry avarin elves and a very impressive noldorin healer, at first he refused to tell Elrond how he did get that wonderful blue color into the fabric but then he had to give in.

One of Taurion's sons simply grasped him by the braid, bent him backwards and threatened to slit his throat if he didn't spill it there and then. The sight of these barbarians almost made the ellon shit himself and he did show Elrond the huge barrels used to dye the fabric. The mixture in them were made by mixing some sorts of ground up minerals with a chemical which brought forth color and then they added a distilled dye made from a very pretty flower which did grow in only a very small area on a rather remote island. It was renowned for its beauty and only he had discovered that you could extract the color by drying the flowers and then dissolving them in a thin acid solution.

Elrond stared at the dried flowers, and he knew he had found the source. Darn ignorant aman elves, so used to everything being harmless they feared naught. He had seen that flower before, quite often. He had been blinded by the fact that his patients had been elves, but back in middle earth he had seen whole herds of animals die because of this infernal plant. Cattle was vulnerable in special for they tend to pull the food free instead of cutting it free with their teeth like a horse or sheep, and they often pulled free the lethal part of the plant, the root!

The flowers in themselves was harmless, so was the rest of the plant and it was only the root which could be a threat to anyone. Some of the dried plants did have the root intact and Elrond felt bile rising in his throat. Greed, it was all about greed. If this ellon had made his workers remove the roots nobody would have gotten hurt at all. He stared at the cloth maker with fury blazing in his eyes. "Do you know what we used to call this flower back in middle earth?"

He shrugged. "No? Should I care? It is a flower?"

Elrond felt the sudden need to let Taurion's sons do a pre mortem autopsy of the ellon, such ignorance ought to be illegal. "We called it –Cow strangler- and everybody knew the root was lethal. Hundreds are dead or dying, all because you are so eager to earn money you haven't bothered cleaning the flowers well. All the cloth you have made has to be burned, and the mixture you have here destroyed. "

The ellon just gaped. "But…."

Elrond growled. "No but, unless you want your but in jail that is. You are responsible for this calamity, the kings will probably demand that you are to pay a huge fine and compensate the families of the dead elves too. You are bankrupt as of now buddy!"

The ellon passed out and one of Taurion's sons grinned. "Could we dunk him in the barrels, please? Just to make a statement?"

Elrond had to grin. "No, it would be a fitting punishment but we are after all elves, not orcs. He would never regain his normal color again, and besides, I don't want to see another convulsing elf again, ever!"

They rode back to Tirion in a hurry and Elrond knew that the toxin from the plant roots affect the central nervous system, that explained every symptom and the ones wearing only a tiny piece of cloth hadn't been as affected as the ones wearing full gowns. He saw that now and felt that he was a moron for not having thought of it before. The rich could afford whole garments, the poor only a belt or a bodice and they didn't get so sick.

When he got back to the hospital elves were leaving, most were recovering and everywhere cloth was burned. Elrond even managed to make Celebrian burn her roll but she wept doing it and he promised that he would get her a new one, one made from just the flower, not the root.

It took two weeks before the last patient could leave the hospital and by then the lovely blue color was nowhere to be seen anymore. Such a lethal fashion would never be allowed again and the kings had banned the use of that flower for any use. The island where it grew became a place where nobody was allowed to go and the cloth maker was feeling extremely blue afterwards. He lost everything including his reputation and had to get a job as a simple weaver after that. He should have made sure that the dye was harmless before he started using it. He was lucky the kings didn't ask for his head, the final number of deaths was almost two hundred and Namo had gotten very upset, he hadn't had such a rush of elves into his halls for centuries and it brought forth some disturbing memories to say the least.

Taurion and his elves stayed here for a month, Elrond got to know the chief rather well and he soon knew he had found a real friend there. Taurion promised Elrond to show him a lot of herbs and plants only the avarin elves knew of and Elrond couldn't wait to visit the huge forests. The two wounded Ellyn recovered slowly, Golwan made a full recovery and he just had some scars to show for the incident. Halphon on the other hand became a cripple, Elrond had sort of anticipated that. He was unable to walk even with a prosthetic leg and had to use a sort of wheel chair to get around. The leg he had kept was completely stiff and couldn't be used and Elrond had half expected him to fade but strangely enough he didn't. He sort of accepted it and became a very skilled craftsman, famous for his carvings. He was very good at carving in bone and antlers and Elrond received a wonderful carved forest scene made from one elk antler and it was as wide as the wall of his bedroom.

The whole incident did teach Elrond something precious though, he would never again trust that these valinorean elves knew what was good for them or not and from now on he would check and double check that they hadn't come into contact with something harmful. Too many had died just because of ignorance and he made sure that every weaver and cloth maker and seamstress learned that some plants or herbs can make lovely dye indeed but also make the wearer die. It was a lesson nobody was allowed to forget.

This story is linked to Rogercat's Au stories as the previous chapters.

The incident with the cloth is inspired by a real thing which happened in the United States years ago, young women got very ill and nobody could find the cause until one observant person did see that they all wore the same expensive designer jeans. It soon became known that the sick girls all wore jeans from the same shop and the jeans had arrived just days earlier by truck. The truck had also transported a pesticide and some had leaked from the barrels and into the cardboard boxes with the jeans so when worn the pesticide would pass through the skin into the body.

The blue flower isn't real but the effect of it is inspired by a very toxic plant widely feared by cattle farmers here in Norway, the root is lethal and I know of farmers who have lost whole herds because of it. It is known as water hemlock in English speaking countries and it is extremely toxic and there is no known antidote. It belongs to the Cicuta family and there are several sub species.


	6. Fences

Chapter six : Fences and thorns.

Elrond and Celebrian sat in the garden and enjoyed the warm breeze coming in from the sea. They were placed in the garden behind their home and with them was Celebrimbor and his dwarven wife Narvi, he was showing her Eldamar and they had decided to take a stop there and visit Elrond. The healer had some very peaceful days now, his apprentices could run the hospital on their own and his sons did also help out so he could afford taking a day off. There had been nothing to do for a while, well, the things which had to be done had been of no interest to him so he left it to the assistants and his sons.

Celebrimbor was pleasant company and Elrond was very eager to learn more of the medicine of the dwarves, he knew almost naught of their methods and was happy to hear that Narvi gladly would tell him all that she did know. She knew of a couple of very valuable books on the topic and she was sure he could borrow and copy them. That left Elrond in a very good mood indeed and now he and Celebrimbor was enjoying some good wine and discussing the vintage. The couple had arrived the day before and slept in the guestroom and Celebrian was thrilled to have visitors. She was eagerly showing Narvi some new pieces of fabric she had bought and the dwarrowdam was very impressed by both the color and the texture. They had enjoyed a good dinner and Elrond was looking forward to a peaceful evening with stories and relaxation.

Celebrian had just shown Narvi her garden and the two ladies were eagerly chatting away about roses and other flowers and Elrond was contemplating showing Celebrimbor his collection of very rare sculptures made from sea shells. The sea elves were experts at making them and some were rather amazing. He knew that Celebrimbor would appreciate the craftsmanship and technique needed to make these things and he was about to suggest a trip inside when one of the assistants came to the door, obviously embarrassed for interrupting. "My lord, there is a visitor here"

Elrond frowned. "A visitor? Not a patient?"

The assistant shook his head. "No, he is a healer too he says, from Valmar. He is travelling around gathering knowledge and wanted to drop by and see if he can learn something new from you?"

Elrond felt an odd mix of feelings, in his eyes the healers of this realm were hardly healers at all, they had never fixed anything more grievous than a hangnail and knew naught about trauma and the workings of the soul. Maybe this one was an honest exception but he doubted it, a lot. "Is he at the hospital now?"

The assistant nodded, his eyes were flickering from one side to the other and Elrond smelled foul play right away. "Alright, what is it this time?"

The assistant shook his head and made a grimace. "My lord, uh…he is…unpleasant to say the least. I have never seen anyone more arrogant ever!"

Elrond let out a sigh, he should have known it, the peace and tranquility could not have lasted. " If he is a vanya that is not uncommon no"

The assistant sort of cringed. "He isn't, vanya that is. I think he is noldo, or maybe of mixed heritage, hard to know really"

Elrond frowned and Celebrimbor got to his feet. "Do you need any help?"

Elrond took a deep breath of air and steadied himself mentally. "Yes please, the sight of a Fëanorian usually makes even the most arrogant think twice before they go all high and mighty on me. Some think that a mere peredhel shouldn't even been allowed to enter Aman. I will send for you should he be too much of a handful."

Celebrimbor made a grimace, he gestured towards his wife. "Well, some think I am insane or even perverted beyond words for having married a dwarf so you are in good company"

Elrond had to laugh and smiled. "Alright, I will go see this visitor, Celebrian, were are my best robes, the ones we used at that wedding?"

He had a set of very elaborate robes which were so grand they usually left even the ones worn by royalty look cheap. Some rich patient had gifted them to him and he usually never wore them except when he needed to impress someone. Celebrian grinned. "In the blue closet behind the stairs, be careful, there are mothballs in them"

Elrond scooted off to find them and he and the assistant took off, he hoped that this would be a swift chat and then he could return to the pleasant garden and the more welcome visitors.

At the same time some elflings were playing in the park placed in the middle of the small city. It was a very beautiful garden there and some open areas with all sorts of equipment for sports and play and even some tables for pick nick's. At this time of the day the park was almost empty, some Ellyn sat by a table playing chess and an elleth was playing with her toddler in one of the sandboxes. The elflings were at an age which resembled a human five year old to a ten year old and they were running around squealing and having fun the way children does. One of them ran around with a ball and the others tried to take it from him, and when someone managed to get the ball the roles changed. The elflings ran through bushes and over well organized lawns, they even ran through a pond and got soaking wet but they didn't care, this was so much fun and it was a glorious day with hot sun and warm breeze so nobody had any problems with wet clothes. They dried almost immediately anyhow.

The one having the ball now was one of the oldest of the elflings, a lanky kid with long flaxen hair and pale blue eyes, he was grinning like mad and tried to avoid the others by running over the tables and even on top of the stone wall surrounding the park. The wall was wide and very solid and it was no problem running on top of it, at least not for an elf. He quickly approached the gate and shouted to the others who tried to keep up. "You will never catch me, just watch this!"

He was going to jump the gap in the wall, it was perhaps three meters across and a very elaborate cast iron gate filled it. The gate was beautiful and made from thick round bars of iron painted black and it looked like a row of spears turned upward with lilies in between and under the row of lilies there were simple figures depicting some of the valar. It was old but very sturdy and still in perfect condition and the only thing wrong with it was that the hinge used when it swung open had rusted stuck so it hadn't been moved for an age or more. But it didn't matter, for there were plenty more gates and nobody needed to use it anyhow.

The elfling ran towards the gap at full speed and locked his eyes on the other side, he prepared to jump but he didn't notice that a small patch of old leaves lay on top of the rock and the leaves were all very slippery. His foot hit it just as he was about to kick off and the momentum sent him flying. An elf has superior balance to a human being, and is way more agile but even they have a limit. And he was young and inexperienced and so he didn't manage to turn himself right. He fell and the other elflings stopped and stared and then the first screams were heard.

The two Ellyn playing chess looked up in shock and got to their feet, ran over. The elleth had grasped her child and stared with huge eyes and a couple of the elflings had in fact passed out. The two Ellyn stopped and stared, eyes wide and faces pale. The one with the calmest mind took a deep breath and forced himself to think. " We need a healer, fast!"

Two of the elflings took off like horses out of a starting gate, they ran as if they were whipped and didn't need to be told the way for everybody knew where Elrond's hospital was.

Elrond was close to exploding, the valinorean healer was the greatest and most pompous idiot he had ever met and that did say quite a lot. The ellon had presented himself as Inwision of Valmar and he acted as if he was just below Manwë himself in wisdom and power. Elrond had seen a few unattractive elves before, it was extremely rare and most elves did look good even when their personalities were unpleasant but in this one those two traits did tango pretty well together. He was nasty and he did look well…unusual. Elrond didn't doubt that he was of mixed heritage, sometimes mixing two bloodlines can create a superior offspring but this was one example of that genetic effect working in reverse. He was short, had a very odd profile with a protruding lower jaw and a very large nose and his eyes were small and reminded Elrond of a stuffed weasel Glorfindel once had been given as a gift. It had been cross eyed too, and it had shared a ghastly similarity with this ellon. He had hair which looked like old straw the color of just about nothing and the hairband he was wearing only served to make it even more visible. And he was overweight! Elrond had never seen a fat elf before and felt an odd sort of fascination. Not that he was overly large, but even a small belly was uncommon among the fair people.

Inwision was constantly talking, his mouth was open the whole time and he never let Elrond speak at all. He had no respect for the healer's reputation and experience and he was questioning everything Elrond did or said. It was obvious that this was an ellon who believed himself to be a master at the healing arts but in reality a common housewife would know more, and have more practical sense too. Elrond couldn't believe how anyone could be so self-centered and blind, and even more so, ignorant.

The things this so called healer knew were both old fashioned, straight out wrong, and in some cases even dangerous and Elrond wondered if he could find a way to dismiss the guy fast without appearing like some old grouch. He did doubt that Inwision would benefit at all from this visit and the only thing he was getting was a throbbing headache and the need to plug his ears. Inwision kept talking about herbs, about ointments and other treatments and Elrond had in fact seen some of those medicines used before, by vets! Where in the name of Eru had this elf learned those recipes? Inwision bragged about all the elves he had helped over the years, of being an honorable member of the small but very exclusive healers guild of Tirion and he even suggested that he and some of his fellow healers should join Elrond for a trip to the avarin tribes. He bet the primitives had some interesting uses of mushrooms and medicinal herbs.

Elrond knew the avarin elves, they were far from primitive and their knowledge of herbs and other plants were second to none! He got a bit angry too now and found it hard to remain polite. It was obvious that Inwision regarded him as inferior for having some mortal blood and Elrond wondered how he would have acted if he suddenly were face to face with Tuor. Elrond did feel a strong suspicion of how that would have ended, Inwision on the floor with a broken nose and Tuor in a rage! Inwision was not impressed at all by the operating room, the apothecary or the waiting room. Elrond felt a bit hurt, everything was shiny and clean and white and he had only the very best tools there. He supposed that this so called healer would use old pliers and butchers knives if he at all did surgery. Most likely he told his patients to go back home and pray or take some nasty and absolutely worthless pills.

Elrond was about to make a very lame excuse when he heard the sound of running feet and he felt a surge of hope, maybe he would be rescued by a patient? Two elflings came running into the waiting room, eyes wide and faces pale and both were gasping for air. " My lord, you must come quick"

Elrond saw that this was something serious, they both looked as if they were in a state of shock. " What is wrong?"

The two heaved for air. " It is our friend, he has fallen from the wall, onto the gate."

Elrond frowned. "The gate, where?"

The two tried to talk simultaneously. "In the park, there is so much blood, oh please hurry!"

Inwision just grinned. "Oh probably just a scratch, kids make a fuss about even small things you know."

The oldest of the two elflings shook his head. " He is hurt bad my lords, he is…impaled"

Elrond felt a cold shiver run down his spine, impaled? Now that was serious indeed. He grasped his bag and shouted for one of his assistants to join him and Inwision sort of blinked and ran along. " I can help too, I am sure I can do so much better than someone from that barbaric realm"

Elrond just sent Inwision a glare. "Go ahead, just come along but Eru help you if you get in my way"

The two elflings ran like the wind and Elrond had to hold onto his robes and forget all about dignity. The park was not that far from the hospital but it still made him sweat before they got there and they heard screams from afar. It turned out to be an elleth who stood on her knees letting out some rather inhuman sounds. Two Ellyn held her and by their looks they were her husband and perhaps her brother. Elrond saw the gate and then he saw the kid who hung on it and his heart dropped, for a moment he felt dizzy, How in Eru's name was he supposed to do anything at all? The assistant gasped and his eyes were the size of tea cups and Inwision took one glance at the elfling and then he hit the ground, hard. He had passed out like a candle and Elrond was just glad he did. No interruptions and no constant quarrelling.

The boy was conscious, making some awful mewling sounds and Elrond got closer and tried to get an overview of the situation. It wasn't good at all! The cast iron spears were as efficient as real spears when something fell onto them and Elrond felt slightly nauseous. One of the spears appeared to have hit the elfling in his cheek and it had gone through and came out of his mouth. Blood was gushing down his neck but that wasn't the really horrible injury. The lilly shape underneath the top of the spear had entered the neck and from the angle Elrond could see that it was near or even in the neck artery. Trying to pull the elfling off would cause him to bleed out in seconds. But the shape of the spears and the lilies meant that there were backwards facing barbs and Elrond took a deep breath. They couldn't lift him off, they had to cut him loose, but how?

The mother was still wailing and the elfling looked as if he was about to pass out, he did reach the ground with his feet and that had saved him so far, but if he did pass out the iron would slide deeper, there was no time to waste. Elrond took a deep breath and knew that this was gonna be tough, very tough. He turned to the assistant. "Run to my home, Celebrimbor and Narvi is there, explain the situation and tell him we need to cut cast iron, at least two bars the thickness of my thumb. And it has to be done fast, but without much heat, clear?"

The assistant just nodded with his eyes wide open and ran off, his robes like sails behind him. Elrond stared at the small crowd which had assembled. "Someone, grasp the lad and hold him up, if he passes out he may perish."

The young ellon moved from the screaming elleth and grasped the lad, he was shivering and looked ashen grey but didn't flinch from all the blood and Elrond sent him an encouraging smile. "I am Elrond, you must be his uncle?"

The ellon nodded. " Yes, yes I am. My name is Maran, he is Heren."

Elrond stared at the top of the spear, it had probably knocked some teeth out as well, poor poor kid. "Well, you handle this well I must say."

Maran nodded. "I make a living as a butcher, so I am used to blood"

Elrond took a deep breath, that made sense. Maran would be useful. "Listen, I have called for help, we need to cut the two bars holding him to free him, if we pull him off he will bleed to death."

Maran blinked and swallowed. "I see, can you do anything about my sister? She is hysterical"

Elrond did see that yes, the elleth was very hysterical indeed, and almost going into shock. He waved his hand at another ellon present, maybe another relative. "Could you please look into my bag? There is a red jar in it, very small, and in it is some tiny blue pills. Give her two of them"

The ellon nodded and did what Elrond had said and the elleth did swallow the pills. Elrond held the lad's head steady and Maran held the body and now they could only wait, and hope. The lad had lost some blood already and Elrond feared that the loss of blood could prove fatal even now, an elfling doesn't have that much blood after all. A huge crowd had started to gather and the two Ellyn who had been playing chess tried to shoo them off, to no prevail. Elrond felt frustrated, this was the scene of a horrific accident, not some freak show and he was greatly relieved when a small troop of the kings soldiers showed up to disperse the crowd. There was a small amount of warriors stationed in every city and village just in case something happened and some smart head had obviously told them of the situation.

Elrond was starting to despair when they heard running feet and Celebrimbor, Narvi and two more of Elrond's assistants came into view. Celebrimbor carried a small bag with tools but Elrond did doubt that he had anything strong enough to cut through these tough iron bars fast enough. Narvi made some of the elves present just stare and gasp, they had probably never seen a dwarrowdam before and she ignored them completely. Celebrimbor got very pale when he saw the severity of the injuries, he felt the bars very gently and shook his head. "This is excellent iron, almost steel. I have brought the tools I have but I am not sure they are good enough."

Elrond clenched his teeth together. "We cannot use heat, and there can be little vibrations."

The smith nodded and bit his lower lip, Narvi too took a peak and she had a stern expression on her face. "It has to be sawed through, it is the only way!"

Celebrimbor blinked. "Sawed? We don't have a saw hard enough for that?"

Narvi smiled, a somewhat sad smile, she took off her necklace. "This is Mithril, it is way harder than iron and the chain is very thin and can be used as a saw"

Celebrimbor took a deep breath. "It will be ruined dear"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter, it is just a chain, it can save this lad so go ahead"

Celebrimbor swiftly removed the chain from the necklace and attached a couple of handles to it, then he put the chain around the spear shaped bar just beneath the elflings chin. "Well, here goes, let's see if it is thin and strong enough"

He started pulling the chain back and forth and at first nothing happened, then the sound changed and Narvi let out a small shriek of joy. "It is working, keep going!"

There was little heat created from this, the Mithril did absorb the friction and Celebrimbor did speed up. He was pulling very fast, and it was hard work for he was already sweating. "Hold the bar when I cut through, so he doesn't move!"

Elrond reached out, held the bar and the smith gave one final tug and the chain cut through the last piece of the iron. Elrond found it odd that a chain, from a necklace, could cut through iron but Mithril had some odd properties and was so hard nothing really could destroy it. The iron itself sharpened the links and turned them into the teeth of a saw and Elrond did see that the spear now was free. He could not pull it out just yet and he waved his hand at the assistants. "I need a stretcher, and painkillers and lots of bandages."

They sprang into action and Elrond watched as Celebrimbor prepared the chain for the last bar holding the elfling. It was the crucial one, the potentially lethal one. Elrond did not know how deep into the neck it was nor the exact angle for it could have been bent by the impact and he was sweating. This had to be done so delicately, and he was glad Celebrimbor was there. He himself would never have had the nerve to do this. Narvi was watching with keen eyes and she held some bandages, ready to step in to stem any bleeding. Inwision did wake up, he was laying on the grass and looked cross eyed and he stared at them and frowned. "What are you doing? Just lift him off the gate damn it"

Narvi raised an eyebrow and shook her head, she stepped back a step and swung around as if to see who was talking and her shoe made firm contact with the ellon's head. Inwision was back to dream land and Elrond felt a sudden need to cheer. Narvi had never been afraid of doing what was needed, it was a family trait. Celebrimbor was half way through the second bar when the chain suddenly snapped, with a hard sudden sound and he swore and made a grimace. "Now what? "

Elrond swallowed, indeed now what. "Do you have any other cutting tools?"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Yes, but they will make the bar hot, and cause more vibrations"

Narvi stared at her bandages. «I have an idea, get water, buckets of it."

Some elves ran off to the pond and got back with some water and Narvi wrapped the bandages around the bar above the place where Celebrimbor had been sawing at it. Then she poured water onto the bandages and nodded at her husband. "Go ahead, keep cutting"

She kept dunking the bandages and Celebrimbor found a file and kept working, this was harder and went slower than with the mithril chain but it went forward. The elfling was unconscious and Elrond was trembling, they had to get him off the gate, fast! Narvi had ordered one of the assistants to keep an eye on Inwision and the ellon had simply decided to sit on the so called healer. Finally there was a snapping sound and the bar was cut through. Elrond held his breath, he and Maran lifted the elfling gently and he was free from the fence but not out of the woods by far. The lilly shaped bar was still in his neck and now Elrond did see just how far. It was deep! Oh Eru, it had to have cut the carotid artery, and possible some veins as well, and it could be massive nerve damage, maybe even damage to the spine. He felt ice cold, now this was a true challenge.

He had danced with death before and won, he wouldn't back down this time and that was a promise. They lifted the elfling onto the stretcher and Elrond was shocked to see how much blood the lad had lost already. This was very bad and he started to wonder if he really had a chance of saving this life. They ran towards the hospital and left Inwision where he lay, good riddance.

The moment they entered through the gates Elrond went into action, he got rid of the blood soaked robes and got into clean white ones, he ordered his assistants to remove the elflings clothing very gently and they got him onto a bench on the operating room. Elrond first removed the spear part, it was still protruding from his mouth and it was easy to just pull it out that way. But it had done some serious damage, not only to his cheek but also to the gums and the teeth on that side and Elrond just hoped that the bone wasn't marred. Elves will grow new teeth should they lose some and he was pretty sure that this elfling would get a nice set of new ones in a few weeks if there hadn't been any deeper damage. He sewed the wound in the cheek shut with nice stitches, this wouldn't even leave a scar in a few year's time. The bar in the neck was the thing he dreaded to start working on and yet he had to.

Now he needed his assistants and he gave short orders, the room was eerily silent except from the sound of instruments and his observations. "The tip is next to the neck bones, Eru, that is not good"

He palpated the area gently, the wound was not very open but it would be, they would have to cut the neck open, put a clasp on the artery and then they had a very short time in which to repair the damages. He took a deep breath, he had done similar things before, sometimes with a good result and sometimes with a sad ending. He went to work, opened the neck below the bar and found the artery, everybody knew that this was it. He put the clasp onto it, stopped the blood from flowing to the brain on that side and he sent a quick prayer to the valar before he yanked the bar out. It left the wound with a sickening wet sound and everybody cringed, blood gushed from the wound and he quickly clamped off the veins. Now it was a sewing job, one he had to be very quick at, and extremely accurate. He sewed the artery first, with the thinnest needle and thread he had, dense small stitches worthy of the best embroidery.

Then he started on the veins, of nerves were damaged he could do naught, they would have to heal on their own or not. Luckily the airways were open and unaffected and he had one assistant standing by in case the patient stopped breathing. Elrond worked fast, and under absolute concentration, sweat flowed from his brow but he didn't care, he was whispering healing chants as he went along, sewing and cleaning and joining together torn tissue.

He removed the clamps one by one, making sure there wasn't any veins leaking and when he finally was done he was shaking all over, and he felt like he had been running ten marathons in a row. The lad was still breathing, still alive and they got a needle into his arm and added some fluids to keep the blood pressure up. Now it was a waiting game and Elrond poured as much of his healing energy as he could into the lad. It was out of his hands, it depended on the elfling's will to live now. The family was gathered outside and Elrond removed the bloody clothes before he went outside to tell how it went. He was optimistic but also a realist. The injury had been grizzly, it could turn both ways now.

He heard a racket by the entrance and walked over, so tired he felt like dreaming and it was Celebrimbor and Narvi and they were arguing with that scumbag Inwision. The ellon stood there so angry he looked like a beetroot and his hair was sticking out in every direction. He did obviously not approve of the manner they had left him, and the fact that Elrond had done surgery without him. He was swearing and shouting and making threats and Narvi rolled her eyes and was preparing to roll up her sleeves. Celebrimbor beat her to it, he just sneered and if anyone had seen his grandfather when he had his fits they would have been startled by how alike his grandson and he was at this moment. "Have you any idea of who I am?"

Inwision just frothed at the mouth, he was shaking with anger. "No, and I don't fucking care!"

Celebrimbor smiled, a very nasty smile. "Oh? My grandfather was Curufinwë Feanaro Finwion, and my father Curufin, the kinslayer. I feel like stepping in my father's footsteps right now"

Inwision got a bit pale, he just blinked. "Curufin's son? Ah, Cele…Cele…"

Narvi nodded. " Celebrimbor yes, the forger of the great rings."

Inwision just spun around on his heels and took off and Elrond dared to step forth, he took a deep breath of relief. "Eru, I am so glad you two got rid of that piece of crap"

Celebrimbor smiled. "It was my pleasure, I have never fully accepted what my family did back then but sometimes their reputation comes in handy."

Narvi giggled and Elrond smiled. Celebrimbor bowed his head. "How is he?"

Elrond sighed. "Alive, and that is all I can tell for sure right now. He lost a lot of blood and I just pray he won't get any infections."

Celebrimbor nodded. "The bars were dirty, bird poop, mud, all sorts of stuff. We want to stay until we find out how this is going"

Elrond smiled. "That is very kind of you indeed, I cannot leave this place that much until he is well again and Celebrian will want some company."

Elrond went back inside and laid down for a rest while the assistants and his apprentices cleaned the operating room and kept an eye on the lad. Elrond was very nervous, he had done an excellent job closing up the wounds, there would be no leaking blood vessels anywhere but the danger of infection was great. They kept a keen eye on the elflings temperature the whole time and Elrond felt an odd calm when his assistant came to tell him that the lad had gotten a fever. They managed to get the elfling to swallow medicine made to reduce it and yet it kept rising. Elrond had little hope now, the elfling was too weak to fight an infection like that, had he been human he would have been dead already.

The family was in tears and Elrond was mentally preparing himself for the not very enviable task of telling the assembled elves that their little one had passed away. None of the medicine Elrond had worked, his healing powers were not enough to stop this. It was in the elflings blood and nobody could do much about it. It was then Narvi came to the hospital, carrying a small vial of glass and it contained some very pale white liquid, she just stood there and held it forth. "Inject him with this. I shouldn't let you do it for it is a secret of the dwarves but it will save him"

Elrond took the vial with a frown. He had heard rumors that the dwarves had some sort of medicine capable of fending off any infection imaginable but he had thought it was a mere rumor. She nodded sternly. "Go ahead, do it. But tell nobody"

Elrond did as she ordered, he did inject the elfling with the content of the vial and then they crossed their fingers. That night the fever broke and in the morning the infection was gone. The wound started to heal and Elrond was so relieved he could have cried. He had to claim that his own medicine finally had kicked in and the others believed it but he felt bad since Narvi got no credit for what she had done. That vial had to have been very valuable indeed and he could only hope that she one day would reveal its secrets.

Narvi and Celebrian kept each other busy for the next week, Elrond stayed at the hospital all the time and kept an eye on the patient and the elfling did heal rather well. He woke up and remembered naught and was a bit upset because his friends weren't present but Elrond did calm him down. His mother brought him books and Elladan dropped by and entertained the lad with stories from Imladris. Two weeks later Elrond received a letter from the healer's guild, a certain Inwision had filed a complaint but the leaders had refused to listen to him for, as they said, the ellon in question was of questionable character. But the letter also said that the guild wanted to join Elrond for an expedition into the woods of Oromë to the south, to study the customs of the avarin elves and he could expect four representatives to arrive soon.

Celebrimbor had to laugh when he heard of this, his aunt Maedhros and her son Rûsa was visiting the avarin tribes at the moment, she wanted her son to get used to the life of the forest elves and to get to know his real father and Elrond cringed when he thought of what the sight of some haughty and overbearing old dustbags would trigger of reactions within his aunt. He remembered her mood swings and her fury in battle and knew that if they managed to awaken her wrath somehow they were done for. Maybe this was a good thing, maybe a chance to see the healers guild humiliated? He had surely seen them do things he found absolutely useless more than once and many of their methods couldn't have changed from the days of the awakening. Or rather, they were the sort of healing methods better suited for Angband!

Celebrimbor did mention that his aunt had been very uptight when she left her home this time, and Elrond knew that this meant that her patience was thin, to say the least. He had seen her like that before and had to grin. Yes, if the healers caused problems he would let Maedhros deal with them. She ought to set them straight, in a most spectacular manner.

So he did plan the trip while Heren recovered and the wounds were first red nasty scars, then they got pale and the swelling disappeared and when a month was gone there were just some red marks in the skin and the young one was back on his feet again, He would need some time to recover completely and regain his full strength but otherwise from that he was fine. Elrond had never been that relieved before, it had been a very close call but now his reputation spread even wider than before. The family was beside themselves with gratitude and Elrond had to admit that no other healer there would have been able to do what he had done. Heren would live on and that was in itself the greatest gift possible. Celebrimbor and Narvi left to continue their journey and Elrond was relaxing in his study with a good glass of brandy and an interesting book when his assistant entered, with a wry grin on his face. Elrond was ready to leave for the woods in just two days and wanted some peace and quiet before he met the representatives from the guild and he frowned and stared at the assistant who was sniggering. " What? Spit it out"

The assistant chuckled. "Have you heard the latest news about our former guest Inwision?"

Elrond had to grin. "Un-wise-ion yes, what about him?"

The other ellon giggled. "He is in the halls of Lorien, healing after an accident. Everybody is talking about it back in Tirion"

Elrond tilted his head. "Yes? An accident?"

The ellon bit his lower lip, having a hard time staying serious. " Apparently someone came to him with some …intimate problems, and wanted a cure"

Elrond just raised an eyebrow and the assistant continued. "He decided to use a very old method of curing such maladies so he went to the woods to find a stag."

Elrond scoffed. It was believed that the fresh balls of a stag could cure impotence, it was just bullshit of course. "And?"

The ellon broke out into laughter. "Unfortunately the stag found him first, the dimwit forgot it was the rutting season and the stag thought he was a doe. Needless to say he got more than he bargained for."

Elrond threw his head back and laughed, the mental image made him cringe but it was well deserved. "Oh Un-wise-ion indeed. I do bet that the gardens would be a good place to recuperate after having been robbed of his…virtue…in such a less than considerate manner. Good riddance, maybe he did learn something"

His assistant shook his head. "Allow me to doubt that my lord, you cannot make hair grow on a rock and you cannot make a moron any wiser, that is a law of nature"

Elrond just shook his head and emptied his glass. "True words, I just hope the healers I am to escort will be safe from such a fate"

The assistant just bowed and chuckled and Elrond returned to his book. Two weeks in the woods, well, the woodelves would look after them, what could possibly go wrong?


	7. The road to wisdom is a thorny path

Chapter 7: The road to wisdom is a thorny path

Elrond was feeling more annoyed than ever before in his long life, he had faced great dangers, fought in epic battles and seen heroes come and go but this? Oh Eru, he wanted to get away, preferably as far as physically possible. He would rather fight a balrog, or have a whole flock of puking elflings to deal with. He rode beside the carriage which held five of the top healers from the academy in Tirion. All were born and raised in Aman and none had ever set foot in middle earth and they were all filled with knowledge to the bursting point. Too bad that knowledge was worth less than a piece of gravel.

They had been travelling for two days and already Elrond knew that he never had encountered more block headed elves ever. They were unable to learn anything new, in fact they didn't want to, for here in Aman everything was perfect and thus nothing new was needed. He wanted to do a facepalm about once every ten minutes and now he had managed to borrow a horse to ride, staying in the wagon would have made him consider kinslaying rather fast. He had claimed that he was too warm and that he wanted the fresh air but the truth was that he preferred the company of mosquitos and gnats over the company of those five elves. Two were Vanyar and oddly enough they were the most likable by the bunch, the rest were noldor and so caught in their own perception of the world they probably would have been unable to react if an Oliphant suddenly came crashing through the woods, for such a beast couldn't really exist since there weren't any in Aman.

The camp of the wood clan was just a few hours away now and Elrond was looking forward to seeing Taurion again, and perhaps also meeting Maedhros and Rûsa. At least that was pleasant company. Right now the five inside of the carriage was discussing the correct way to treat a compound fracture and Elrond rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. They were obviously very confused for he knew that their treatments most likely would result in an amputation, or death! The road was wide and well made, the kings had made a shared effort to make sure that people could travel fast and easy everywhere and roads had been built to almost every larger village. The last miles had to be crossed on foot or horseback and Elrond was so looking forward to telling them this. They all wore these huge and very elaborate robes and he couldn't imagine that they would change into something more appropriate.

The servants who were following them were riding behind, chatting away and having a good time, they didn't really care about the fact that their masters were the most bone dry personalities you could find anywhere. This was probably a very pleasant break from the boring everyday routine. Elrond's apprentice Faerthor was riding among the servants, entertaining them with stories of the crazy things which had happened at the hospital lately. Elrond had wanted one of his apprentices to follow him, to record anything which may be of interest. He wanted to learn from the avarin elves and he knew that he wouldn't have time to write everything down. Beside, Faerthor would need the practice.

When the carriage had to be left behind the five healers acted like some spoiled and very posh maidens, they refused to get out of the long robes and riding a horse? That was outrageous! But they had been expected and suddenly a huge group of avarin elves showed up on horseback, Taurion was in the lead and he was wearing the ordinary avarin clothing, a loincloth decorated with elaborate embroideries, thigh high boots and some necklaces made from bones. The five healers were staring with huge eyes at the avarin warriors, they had to look rather terrifying to these city dwellers and Elrond had to chuckle a bit as he dismounted and met Taurion with a good handshake and a hug. The chief of the woodclan grinned and offered the five healers horses. The avarin elves rode without a saddle or bit, the horses wore no harness at all and the idea of riding bareback made all five rather pale. Elrond had an infernal glimpse within his eyes as the five were grasped by the avarin and simply hauled up on the horses in front of the warriors. There they sat sideways like some dainty lady and all looked very enraged but they didn't complain since they didn't dare to. Elrond rode close to Taurion and the chief looked a bit in doubt of this mission. Teaching these elves anything at all would be as simple as making a balrog take a cold bath.

Elrond was really looking forward to spending time with the avarin healers, they were very good at what they were doing and were renowned for their skills and knowledge of herbs and natural medicines. He just hoped that the five wouldn't cause any problems. The camp was large, several clans had gathered since there was an important festival coming soon and Elrond saw that the five were staring with huge eyes. The servants reacted with way more ease, they were able to cope with the sight of topless females and naked kids and the fact that many avarin elves had both tattoos and paint on their skin. Taurion stopped his huge grey gelding in front of the ceremonial hut and made a short speech to introduce the five to the tribe, Elrond saw that the healers still had problems knowing how to react. Taurions wife sat in a group of young elves and she was teaching them how to sew, Elrond saw that Rûsa among them and the healers were gaping. To them sewing was the work of an elleth and here both genders were represented. Atara grinned and waved at Elrond and he smiled back and saw that many of the elflings were very skilled already.

One of the noldo healers pouted. "What is the point in this?"

Taurion stared at the ellon and the black eyes were rather cold. "Everybody has to know how to stich up a wound, fix a torn garment or put some hides together to create a tent. Simple as that, here you have to do things yourself, you cannot buy everything you need"

Atara nodded and the noldo stared at her richly embroidered blouse, it was very pretty with small gems sewn onto the sleeves and gorgeous patterns over the front. Taurion smiled widely. "I made that for her, as a gift"

Elrond saw how shocked the five got, Taurion was masculinity incarnate and yet he had made something like that for his wife? Atara tilted her head. "Here it is common for young lovers to make something for each other, like a garment or a tool of some sorts, you have to prove that you are capable of using your hands to create, not just to hunt and kill. If you are very good at some art that gives a lot of status here."

Elrond already knew this but to the five Tirion elves this was a whole new world and they seemed to understand just how far out of their comfort zone they really were. The wood clan had prepared some huts for them, nice and very comfortable buildings made from thin twigs which had been elaborately braided together and then covered with a mixture of horse dung and clay which had been smoothed over and then covered with white clay. Someone had decorated the walls with delicate patterns in vivid colors and the furniture was also made from willow twigs and was very beautiful. Elrond found it very inviting and did express his gratitude and admiration in almost lyrical terms but the five looked as if someone had invited them to stay in the pig sty. Elrond started to feel a wee bit fed up with their air of superiority, he wished that he could teach them a small lesson. Faerthor would stay with the servants and Elrond had to smirk, his apprentice would beyond any doubt have many good stories to tell afterwards, whence he had spoken with all these servants.

He did see that the elves gathered there were staring at the five too, and many were laughing. He did notice that the elflings surrounding Rûsa were asking questions about the five, the young son of Maedhros was of course used to these sort of court robes and explained and some of the younger warriors were strutting around, imitating the sort of stiff gait and uptight posture of the five healers. They did look like peacocks in a pen of wild hens and Elrond did see that they did feel a bit uncomfortable, they did stand out in the crowd like a black dragon in a herd of sheep. Taurion was leading them towards an area with many firepits and benches where meals were served. The ellith and Ellyn working there greeted Elrond with obvious joy and he waved back and didn't give a rats ass about the way the five reacted. These were his friends, and he wasn't going to pretend as if he was in any way superior to them.

There was food prepared right that moment and Elrond felt a bang of hunger, these elves used the spices of the forest and he knew that they were true champions of cooking. Here they used only what nature gave them and he saw that an elleth was wrapping a freshly caught fish in leaves, then a layer of clay and then the whole package was buried in the coals of a fire pit. It would cook the fish perfectly and he smiled to himself, he really looked forward to this meal. Everybody got seated and some ellith carried trays of wooden cups forth and placed them on the benches. The cups contained the beer the wood clan was famous for and it was way better than the beer served at the taverns in Tirion. The five did look reluctant but did taste the brew, their expressions revealed that they expected this to taste like fox urine. Elrond saw that the taste did surprise them and he emptied his own cup swiftly. The beer was very good and not very strong. One of the two vanyar healers did in fact look very enthusiastic and started asking the ellith questions about the brewing, maybe there was some hope for these dusty relics after all.

Taurion was catching Elrond's gaze and it was rather obvious that the leader of the wood clan already knew what sort of elves these healers were. He shared Elrond's feelings for sure and there was a glimpse of something mischievous in his eyes. Some Ellyn came carrying trays with food and it was meat, freshly grilled. Elrond knew that the avarin elves ate more meat than the city dwellers, here in the woods you couldn't get as much vegetables and fruits and the avarin did show the creatures of the woods a great deal of respect and they never took more than they needed. Elrond saw the small grin on Taurion's face and knew that they had prepared a real treat this time. The trays were placed on the table and it was grilled bats. A species which was rather large, as long as a grown man's arm and almost foxlike in appearance. The wings were huge and they lived on fruit and nectar and the avarin elves did hunt them but only rarely. The bats were just skinned and the entrails taken out, except from that they were whole and did look rather inedible but he knew that the meat was delicious. The five healers did stare, all rather pale and in obvious shock. Taurion did nod. " Please, just start. I bet you all are hungry from your travel"

The five looked at the huge grilled bats with their spread wings and the open jaws. They did look a bit like a small fried dog and Elrond felt how a surge of sheer defiance rushed through him. He would not dishonor their host by hesitating and he knew that this meat was as safe as any to eat. It just looked unusual and he also saw that the five had huge problems understanding how to eat this food. He grasped one of the bats and ripped off a piece of it, the crust was crispy and warm and the meat very tender, He did eat using his hands and the five did stare at him, in disbelief. He smiled. "What? No forks or knives here, everybody eats with their hands"

The five did grasp some meat, they looked as if they expected the bat to come back to life and bite them. Taurion was hiding a wide smirk and Elrond knew that the chief had chosen this dish on purpose. They sat there eating and Elrond did see that the healers in fact did like the meat, it had a very nice almost nutty flavor and it was perfectly grilled and juicy. But they wouldn't confess to that ever. Elrond had finished eating when he did notice that a very tall figure approached them, it was Maedhros and she did wear a very nice green gown with some gold embroideries and she did look divine. The healers did recognize her and got up, bowing politely. She did nod once to acknowledge their presence and one of the healers stared at her with a puzzled expression. "My lady? What are you doing here?"

She sat down by the table and didn't even look at Taurion. " I am here as a representative of my father, he want to trade with these wood elves you see. And by the way I also need the help of some of their female healers, a small genuinely female problem I need to have solved!"

The healers just nodded, female problems were not that important, there was no honor or prestige in that sort of insignificant cases. Maedhros got up again and nodded at Elrond, he did see that she wasn't too pleased by the sight of the five healers. He suspected that they probably had been among the elves who didn't accept her rebirth nor the fact that she still was a princess and part of the court. She disappeared among the huts and Elrond made a grimace. The worst thing which could happen was that these morons did discover that Rûsa was her son, they would have to make sure that such a disaster was avoided. The day was coming to an end and everybody was retreating to their huts. The next morning the avarin healers would meet them and Elrond was looking forwards to it. The hut was warm and cozy and he had no problems going to bed and falling asleep. The hut was very airy and let the scents of the forest seep in and he smiled as he drifted off into a pleasant dream.

The next morning he woke up to the sound of elflings laughing, someone was shouting something about firewood and some horses were whinnying. He got up and got dressed and did his hair. He wanted to look his best and as he left the hut he did see that the other five too emerged from their huts, neither looked as if they had slept much at all. Elrond chuckled to himself and shook his head, they did look rather disheveled. The avarin elves had already prepared breakfast and it was some sort of bread baked on flat hot rocks. It was very nice with moshed berries and Elrond did enjoy it a lot but the five barely touched their food at all. They even refused the very nice juice someone offered them. Faerthor came too, he was yawning and looked rather smug, had he perhaps had some luck with one of the avarin ellith? Faerthor was very pretty and cute too and the females did like him a lot so perhaps he had spent the night in the best possible manner, good for him.

The avarin healers showed up, they were three and one apprentice and all wore the traditional garments of their profession. A sort of long skirt and a vest with many pockets and they all were tattooed rather heavily. Elrond did see that the apprentice had to be one of Taurion's many offspring, she had the same deep dark red hair color and her eyes were similar to his. The healers bowed their heads and the five Tirion healers did look a bit uncertain, they probably didn't know what to say or do. Elrond already knew that the leader of the healers here was very famous and very ancient, and he knew everything which was to know about the healing arts. Elrond did make a very deep bow to make sure that the five did see that he did show these elves due respect and he did see that Badhor did appreciate it. The head healer did bow back and smiled. The tattoos did make him look a bit scary but when he smiled that transformed his face into something very fascinating.

Elrond took a deep breath. "We are most interested in seeing your use of herbs and medicine, and how you heal a wounded fêa."

Badhor tilted his head. "Of course, do follow me, we can start at the healers huts"

They followed the avarin elves to a cluster of huts placed some distance from the others. They were large and very beautiful and Elrond did admire the fresco paintings which decorated the smooth clay walls. The five did look as if they didn't really believe that these huts were suitable for housing patients and he knew that the avarin elves were very good at keeping things clean, there was no risk for infection there. Badhor showed them the storage of herbs and Elrond was impressed but the other five were not, they seemed to be bored and Elrond felt a need to roll his eyes in slight disgust. They could at least have pretended to be listening, were had their courtesy gone? Faerthor did make notes the whole time, he was very efficient and did write with impressive speed, Elrond would have good notes to go over afterwards.

One of the three healers, a huge ellon with a very long dark brown braid and very striking golden brown eyes smiled, it was a seemingly gentle smile but Elrond saw that glimpse within his eyes and knew that this elf was getting very annoyed. "Pray tell, how do you treat someone who comes to you with stomach problems?"

The healer named Canwarion answered, he was among the noldor of the group and he was rather handsome but Elrond had realized that he was as stupid as a loaf of bread. Why he had chosen to become a healer was really anybody's guess for he could have been better off as something way simpler, like a street sweeper. "Well that does of course depend upon the nature of the problems, but we do prefer to give the patient a strict diet and then put some leeches in certain places on the body"

Elrond almost scoffed but he managed to camouflage it as a cough. Leeches for stomach problems? He had heard a lot of outrageous treatments being suggested by these five but this was among the worst. The tall avarin elf raised an eyebrow, he just smiled. "Oh really? Is that efficient?"

Hampar answered, he was one of the vanyar healers and he nodded enthusiastic, Elrond had started to believe what some edain had said back in middle earth, that blondes were dumber than others for Hampar was not exactly blessed with a sharp intellect. "Oh yes, it does work, the patients doesn't return so I guess that explains it neatly"

Elrond wanted to tell them that this was because the patients would come to him after the "treatment" given by these nitwits . Another of the noldor, a rather small and frail looking elf named Lembadir picked up a bowl with some sort of crushed herbs in, he frowned. "What is this?"

The avarin named Erfaron answered, she was a rather tall elleth with dark blonde hair and soft green eyes. Elrond had met her before and found her friendly attitude and gentle personality to be very soothing. "It is a herb which grows in the deep woods, near bogs. We use it in wounds to stop bleeding"

Elrond saw that the other vanya, named Cordonion did look interested but the others just rolled their eyes. Canwarion even made a grimace. "You put that filth into a wound? Wounds need to be burned!"

Elrond saw that Badhor cringed, cauterizing a wound was something they only did if they had no other option. The pain in itself could kill a patient and the wound wouldn't heal as it normally would, dead tissue would have to be removed later with a high possibility of further blood loss and there would always be a scar left, even on an elf. Elrond took a deep breath, this would be a very long day!

After a few hours they did take a break, Cordonion had showed some interest but Elrond suspected that this was because of the novelty of everything, not because he wanted to learn anything. Badhor was rather angry but he hid it well and the apprentice who Elrond now knew was named Cellind had almost started to laugh at several occasions. The five had managed to insult the avarin healers in so many ways Elrond had lost count and they had revealed that their own knowledge was overdue for replacement. Faerthor had almost lost it a few times, he already knew enough to understand that these five probably would try to solve a problem the wrong way no matter what. Badhor invited Elrond to join him for a meal and he accepted gladly, the five were escorted off by one of the avarin warriors, they wanted to look at the herbal garden a short mile from the camp and Elrond was glad he wouldn't have to see them for a few hours. He dismissed Faerthor who by now had aching wrists and was very glad he could take a rest. The notes did look great though and Elrond knew he had learned a lot this day already.

Meanwhile the avarin kids had gathered by the river, it was warm and they enjoyed bathing and playing where the air was cool and the soft breeze kept the stinging insects out of the way. Rûsa was the head of the pack so to speak, he was a natural leader and knew how to organize others and now they were playing a game very popular among the avarin elves. They were in reality too young but they didn't bother with such tiny details. The avarin elves did keep some animals for their meat or milk and this tribe did have a nice herd of miniature goats. The game was simple, they tied a nut to the tail of a billy goat with thin thread and then they tried to catch the nut as the goat ran around. To catch the nut you had to be both fast and have a good hand eye coordination and some of the older elflings stood there watching. The goat was jumping and running the way goats do and it was very fast and rather tiny so catching it was hard. They were very careful never to harm the animal and if the goat got tired they would stop.

Rûsa wasn't the only reborn one among these elves, many had been killed or died because of accidents and such back in middle earth and most of them had few memories left. He was the only one reborn with his full personality intact and he was shouting orders like the war leader he once had been. They had split into two teams and the other team was leaded by a little elleth who also was one of Taurion's children. She was as fierce as Rûsa but not as experienced since she had died as an infant and she had been reborn as a baby so she didn't have many years to look back at yet. Rûsa and his team were chasing the goat through the bushes and the animal was sly, the way goats are. The goat had played this game before and knew that it wasn't in danger, it knew that it could outsmart these elves and if it had been able to grin it would have been grinning from ear to ear as it headed for a stretch of bushes close to the riverbank.

These bushes did look rather normal but that was on the outside, the inside was a whole different tale, and they grew on a very steep slope too. The branches inside of the bush were covered with huge thorns and to add to it the bushes often housed a very aggressive species of ant which were infamous for their sting. The goat rushed into the bushes with a loud baaaa and the elflings chased after it, too consumed by the hunt to see the danger they were heading into. The goat just lowered its head and let its horns clear the path, besides it had a very thick hide and since it was small it ran underneath the most thorny of the bushes. The elflings ran into the trap and most lost their footing and tumbled through the thorny branches with loud yells and screams. Some ran back out with loud shrieks, trying to get rid of the biting ants and others headed for the river to get away but all had been cut by the thorns and some did resemble porcupines with thorns sticking out of their skin everywhere.

Rûsa hadn't been among the first to run into the bushes but he had entered from another angle than the other elflings and he was unfortunate enough to encounter a very old bush with thorns several inches long. He had stumbled in a root and his arm had been pierced in several places and he let out a howl of pain and fought his way back to the group, blood pouring from some very nasty cuts and ants crawling everywhere. He did panic, he ran to the river to get rid of the ants and there he did trip over a rock and fell. There was a sort of cracking sound and he screamed again as he broke his left wrist on a sharp rock. Some of the other there had the sense to grasp him and drag him back onto the bank and the elder elflings ran off to find some adults. Many of them needed help now.

The five healers had been on their way back from the herbal garden when they heard the screaming and at first they feared that some terrible beast was on the loose and they started looking for some place to hide. The garden had been very well organized and they had been impressed since it was better than any they had seen in Tirion but they would rather face Namo himself than admit to that. The warrior who escorted them just gasped and his eyes got wide. "Oh green mother, the elflings!"

He ran off and since the five didn't want to be left alone, who knew what sort of dangers this horrible forest hid, they did follow him with their robes held ridiculously high and with long steps not to get their nice boots dirty.

They arrived at a scene of mayhem, there were elflings everywhere with thorns in their skin and most very crying for their parents or sitting there in shock. Canwarion took the charge, he decided that the ones with the least injuries should go back to the camp right away, while he and the others did free the others from their thorny problem. The warrior immediately scooped up a couple of the youngest ones there and ran off with them and half a dozen or so more followed him. They only had thorns in their hands or arms and weren't that affected but the ones left had thorns practically everywhere. Rûsa was sitting there panting with pain, he had many ant bites as well since the bush he had collided with had been the home of a very large colony of the red menace and now he was shaking all over. He stared at the healers, they were people he didn't know and he didn't like them. They were too rough and sort of manhandled the elflings to pull the thorns out. It had to be done but it only made the young ones panic. The avarin elves never punished their offspring physically, if a kid did misbehave it was simply ignored until it started to calm down and it worked fine. The avarin children were never overprotected and they were able to take care of themselves from a very tender age, but these healers didn't treat them with the respect they normally would face. They treated the elflings as if they were simply toddlers and that made some react with fear, they weren't used to it at all.

Wailing and bawling was heard as thorns were being pulled and two of the healers, Ercarion and Lembadir went to start on Rûsa. He did panic, he had lost some blood due to the gashes and he felt ill because off all the bites and he went into survival mode, his old instincts awoke once more and he sneered and tried to fight the two. He tried to bite and kick and managed to place a small and very swift foot right in Lembadir's groin. The ellon collapsed with a groan and Ercarion threw himself over Rûsa. "We need help here, this little devil is like a greased squirrel"

The others ran over and Rûsa suddenly faced five grown Ellyn, he was fighting like mad and Csnwarion pulled a small bottle out of his robes. It held a sedative they used on tough patients and it would have a soothing effect on just about anybody. He managed to get some of the concoction into the struggling elfling but then Rûsa went into overdrive. The medicine smelled and tasted just like the one Sauron had forced him to ingest before he was forced to couple with Maeglin back in Angband and he was suddenly back at that horrible place. He was fighting for his life once more and he spat and cursed and wriggled. Lembadir swore too and forced Rûsa's mouth open, poured even more medicine down his throat and Rûsa coughed and screamed. The others started tearing the thorns out and the elfling let out some piercing wails of agony. The thorns were larger than the ones the others had come into contact with and if they used some force they would yank out a piece of flesh with each thorn since they had some small barbs along the edge.

They forced more medicine down Rûsa's throat, it didn't calm him in the least and he was delirious with pain and fear. To him healers were dangerous, they meant pain and suffering and possible death since the healers of Angband were better at killing their patients than healing them. Rûsa was screaming so loudly that he was heard from afar and after a short while riders galloped into the clearing. It was Taurion and Atara and Elrond and Badhor. Elrond gasped in shock and saw that two Ellyn quite literally sat on Rûsa as the others tried to get the thorns out and close the wounds. Hampar sneered. "This child is possessed, I swear it! He did kick Lembadir here, even if we are just trying to help"

Taurion did look like a thundercloud, "That child is my son damn it, and a reborn. You have no idea of what horrors he has been trough and now you have awakened his old memories. Get off him or prepare to do it at the edge of my blade!"

The five just blinked, the chief's son? Rûsa wailed again and Taurion jumped off his horse and ran over, gathered the trembling elfling in his arms. Elrond joined him, the thorns were out but had left nasty wounds and the cuts were even worse. "What in Eru's name did you do?!"

Canwarion tried to look calm. "We pulled the thorns out!"

Elrond groaned and Badhor sneered, he did look like a very angry cat all of a sudden. "You never pull such thorns out, they need to be spun around like a screw first, it flattens the barbs. You have harmed him!"

The five just sent them equal haughty glances which told that nobody ought to tell them how they were to do their job. Elrond saw that the cuts were covered with a sort of paste, it had to be made from some herb and it was fresh. "The paste, what is it?"

Lembadir smiled, a rather proud grin. "It is the leaves of blue shoeflowers, crushed. It cleans the wound"

Badhor nodded. "Yes, it does clean a wound, because the leaves are acidic! The pain is excruciating, we only use it on skin which is whole and healthy, to increase blood flow in case of inflamed muscles. Are you completely nuts?! "

Rûsa screamed again and Atara sat down and poured water onto the wounds to get the paste out of them, she was close to tears and Taurion looked like a thundercloud. The other elflings there were crying too but they hadn't been treated as badly as Rûsa and their thorns had been thin and barbless. Some other avarin elves arrived and gathered the elflings to get back home and Atara was preparing to lift Rûsa when he suddenly made an odd gargling sound and started to breathe funny. The body heaved for air and his eyes were wide with panic, he couldn't breathe!

Elrond fell onto his knees next to the struggling elfling, Rûsa was clawing at his throat and making wheezing sounds and Elrond was seeing red. "You goddamn idiots, what did you give him?!"

Canwarion licked his lips nervously. "Some sedative, just to calm him down. The kid was mad damn it!"

Elrond hissed. "Because you reminded him of the orcish healers of Angband, you have no idea of how to behave towards a child now do you? Incompetent morons!"

Taurion had a firm grasp on his knife. " What sort of sedative?"

Hampar gave him the bottle with shaking hands and Taurion went white, he recognized the smell. It was exactly the same smell as the medicine he and the other breeding slaves had been forced to drink, a very powerful aphrodisiac which left you with no control of yourself whatsoever. " Elrond, this smells like the drug Sauron gave us, he must have recognized it, no wonder why he went ballistic"

Elrond closed his eyes for a second, oh Eru's mercy, poor child. "What is in it? Answer me now!"

Ercarion shrugged. "I am not sure, but I know it contains willowroots and crushed choriberries and some brown specked oak mushrooms"

Elrond groaned, Rûsa could barely breathe now and he wondered if he would have to perform surgery there and then, with only a hunting knife. Opening someone's trachea was something he preferred not to do since the risks were great. Badhor growled and the look in his eyes could have made a balrog piss itself. "You gave a person with antbites all over something which contains Choriberries? You are no healers, you are dimwits. My four year old daughter knows better, those berries does inhibit the breathing mechanism through severe swelling if mixed with ant poison!"

Conwarion shrugged. "How could we know?"

Elrond got up, stared at them from his full height. "If you were true healers you would know! The things you have learned are worthless, do you hear? Leeches and diets, a village witch would know better."

Taurion gasped. "Please, do something!"

Badhor grasped something out of his west, it was a very small vial of something and he opened it with his teeth and poured a few drops down Rûsa's throat. The elfling was wheezing and struggling and Atara had a hard job holding him still. Elrond frowned. "What was that?"

Badhor had a hard expression on his face. "A medicine which reduce swelling, I just hope it was enough"

Elrond hoped that too, if Maedhros lost her son like this she would probably murder the five and go completely mad. Taurion turned his head and stared at some of the warriors who arrived. "Escort these five to their huts, their presence is no longer required here"

His harsh tone told what he felt about the five and the warriors sort of hauled them off, not caring if their robes got dirty. Rûsa was struggling for a while, then the breathing got better and Elrond let out a deep sigh of relief. He then tried to reverse the damage the five had done by cleaning the wounds properly, set the wrist very gently and managed to calm the frightened elfling down. Now he was just sobbing and looked very tired and Elrond gave him a huge dose of painkiller to make the agony go away. They carried him back to the camp and Maedhros almost blew a fuse when she discovered what her son had been through. The only reason why she didn't rush to the healers huts and confronted them was that nobody outside of the family yet knew that Rûsa was her son, and that he was born out of wedlock. Instead Taurion hugged her and promised that her son's agony would be avenged and she calmed down and went to sit with Rûsa.

It took two days before the elfling was alright again, the wrist would need some weeks to heal but it would be alright in the end. Rûsa was very angry with the five and so was Elrond and pretty much everybody else in the camp. The five stayed in their huts and seemed to be afraid that the avarin elves would skin them or something like that and Elrond did nothing to ease their fear. The two vanyar elves did in fact show some humbleness, they did apologize wholeheartedly and agreed to learn for real and forget everything they believed that they knew. At least there was some hope for them but the three others still believed that the knowledge they had was superior. The tribe shaman declared that these three were a lost cause, not even she would be able to heal their souls for they were so goddamn stubborn it barely could be true. Elrond agreed upon that notion but he wondered what Taurion had meant with vengeance. Some days later he did find out, Rûsa wasn't allowed to play with the others yet and was bored and thus he was allowed to help Atara and Maedhros with the cooking of the evening meal. Rûsa was many things but no cook for sure and Atara gave him a whole kettle which was just his and he was told to go ahead and have fun, which he did! With bravado!

Everything went into the pot, every type of meat and vegetable he could get his hands on, roots, spices and even pieces of hardened bread and the finished result had an uncanny color which resembled old custard sauce and it had lumps in it not even a pathologist would have been able to identify. Taurion declared that this would be the dinner for the three noldorin healers and as they were presented with the nasty looking and even more nasty smelling food it was apparent that they feared this was the end. Atara had made some stew too, it had the same color but it did smell delicious, although the three didn't notice since the horrid smell of Rûsa's concoction already had overwhelmed their senses. They only saw that the others did eat and so did they too, with grimaces and groans.

Elrond had to hide his smirk and Taurion was staring at the three with a death glare, they didn't dare to stop eating until the plates were empty and then Atara promptly refilled them, declaring that it was such a nice thing to see an ellon with a good appetite. Rûsa was of course thrilled since they did ate his stew and he was beaming with pride and Maedhros was grinning too from her place on another table. It was well deserved. When Rûsa had lived in Angband the slaves had been fed things barely edible and to him even old pieces of rotten hide would be considered food, if it could be chewed it could be eaten and this stew was in fact rather nice compared to many of the meals he had endured in his first life.

That evening Elrond got called to the huts of the three, all of them were puking, having diarrhea or the exact opposite and they were in agony. Elrond promptly ordered their own cures to be used and then some wailing protests were heard. None of them had any belief in leeches and cold water as a cure for this ailment. But he did let them suffer for a while, just to teach them a lesson and in the morning he did give all three some soup made to ease the pain. It did work and the three fell into an exhausted sleep from which none of them did reemerge before the day after, the day they were to leave. The two vanyar had already made friends with the avarin healers and even though they were far from the sharpest tool in the shed Badhor felt that they deserved a chance. At least they tried. Faerthor had written down everything and he had gathered a lot of information from the avarin elves which Elrond had missed due to the incident so Elrond decided that he wanted to reward his servant well whence they got back home. The notes would be the base information he would use to write a book about the avarin healing methods and he couldn't wait to get started.

Elrond did ride when they left the camp, he didn't sit in the wagon and he did notice, with not a small amount of glee, that Lembadir had problems sitting due to a severe case of hemorrhoids, caused by constipation caused by the stew, and Ercarion still had problems with gas and was farting constantly, to the immense discomfort of the two others since it did smell as if something had fallen into a sewer and died, in the august heat. These three would probably never learn but at least he know knew where he had them and if any of them ever caused any problems he would mention Taurion and Rûsa and see them cringe and go pale. Erestor had been infamous for blackmailing people he didn't like, Elrond now silently thanked his previous seneschal for the tricks he had learned over the years, they would be useful indeed. And Rûsa was alright again, that was very fortunate indeed.

Two weeks later the high king of the noldor sent some of his best scholars to the academy in Tirion and the entire library was replaced by a new one, with books Elrond had recommended. New healers were hired, the old ones had to go and the three now faced a new profession, as assistants to the local veterinarian. No more posh dinners or high ranking clients, now it was pig sties and cow dung and horse kicks which became the daily practice and Elrond did empty a bottle of very good wine to celebrate. Maedhros hadn't waited long before she let her grandfather know of the incident and he had acted the way he used to, swiftly with brutal efficiency. From now on the only healers to leave Tirion would be elves who actually did know the difference between a larynx and a prostate and Elrond did allow himself to relax again. In a few years time he would be faced with way less work and that would be a blessing indeed, just a shame that the road to enlightenment sometimes can be thorny indeed.


	8. Pop goes the weasel

Chapter 8: Pop goes the weasel…

The afternoon was a quiet one, the air warm and inside of the yard you hardly heard the sound of the city outside of the walls. The small hospital was being renovated, Elrond had decided that it was time to fix the façade so to speak and now all his apprenticed and helpers were busy trying to paint the walls a lively and very pretty shade of blue. Some had already replaced some tiles and fixed the roof and inside Celebrian and some of her friends were changing the old furniture for new and better one. They had already swapped the old and rather moth eaten curtains with new made from bright white linen and the walls had been painted too, a soft pastel tone of purple. Elrond had protested but Celebrian said it was soothing and then the argument was ended for sometimes she could be very adamant. He guessed he knew exactly who she had inherited that trait from.

They hadn't had any patients for days, the summer was usually a very peaceful season and Elrond was proud of his staff and what they had achieved. When they were done this hospital would be better than any other he had seen. He sighed and put down the paintbrush, he too did help out and he was trying to fix a painted mural of the lady Estë on the walls, the wear and tear had made her look more like an orc and less like a valie. He was no artist but he did have some talent after all and he was very pleased with the expression he had managed to create on her face, at least people wouldn't enter and get shocked by the sight.

He was just about done when there was a knock on the door and Elrond blinked,, oh no, a patient, well, that was how they made their living now wasn't it, it couldn't be too bad, he didn't hear voices speaking so it was probably just one person and that usually meant something rather easy to fix, like a splinter or mild indigestion. He opened the door and was surprised to see a familiar face there, it was an elf named Lirit who lived in that city, he was a half vanya of the people and he did make a living baking cakes and bread. He did also make sweets for festive occasions and now he held his right hand wrapped in wet towels and looked miserable. Elrond took a deep breath. "Lirit, don't tell me you have gotten burned by the hot sugar? Again?!"

The tall slender ellon nodded, looking sheepish. He often came to Elrond to ask for advice, he used herbs and plants and minerals to add flavour to the sweets and when he tried something new he always sought advice to make sure that the new recipes were safe. "It was the kettle my lord, it flipped over when I was to lift it off the fire, the handle broke"

Elrond had often tried to make Lirit buy better equipment but the ellon was not very wealthy and he was very proud too, he wouldn't accept charity and Elrond had given him some new kettles but they had been used and he had said that Celebrian had grown tired of them. Had they been brand new he would have refused to accept them. Elrond shook his head and Lirit followed him into the one room they now could use to treat patients. Lirit sat down and unwrapped his hand and Elrond hissed. It was a nasty burn and it was deep, Lirit hadn't manged to get the thick sticky sugar mass off his skin fast enough and the result was bad. Elrond found a bowl of water and some instruments and started removing some ruined skin, Lirit sat there looking stoical as ever but it had to hurt horribly. Elves do heal very fast, and can overcome almost any injury but this was one of the worst burns the healer had seen in a very long time. He finished cleaning the injury and then he found some ointments and rubbed them into the hand before he did bandage it thoroughly. "There my friend, this was a bad one, I hope you realize that? No work for you in a month, that is an order!"

Lirit did hang his head, "But how am I to make a living then? I cannot store anything for later, my goods has to be made the day they are eaten?"

That was a problem for sure, Elrond was thinking fast and he did get an idea. "Listen, you do bake break and cakes too right? I happen to know a young ellon who lives not far from here who would love to learn how to do that, he needs to learn how to make a living. Say you teach him for a month and let him do all the work? He will work for free, I am sure he will be happy to help you out, just stay away from the candy, that is your speciality and your skin has to heal completely before you expose it to that sort of heat again"

Lirit frowned. "Who is he?"

Elrond smiled. "The son of one of my friends, the lad is a good ellon Lirit, very sweet but his father is a musician and unfortunately enough the lad hasn't inherited even an ounce of that talent. He is as musically talented as the tanner's donkey"

Lirit had to grin. "Alright, okay, I will accept him as an apprentice then, for a month."

Elrond smiled. "Brilliant, I will send a message right away and I am sure he can start tomorrow."

Lirit was given some pain killers and some other medicine and told to return twice a week to change the bandages and he left looking a little less worried. Elrond did write to Lindir and his son to tell of the arrangement and smiled to himself. Lindir often complained that the boy was way too lazy and this would set him straight, he would at least have to get up early for the bread was to be ready at sunrise.

They continued to work and the next day they were suddenly interrupted by two elflings who came through the hedge between the infirmary and the property on the other side. Elrond had often seen them and knew them fairly well and they both looked distraught. Elrond bent down and the two sniffled and blinked. "My lord…could…could you help us?"

Elrond frowned, they did indeed look very worried. "Of course little ones, what is wrong?"

The two sniffled again, they were very young and sweet and he had caught Celebrian red handed more than once, giving the little ones sweets. "It is Netil my lord, she is going to have her kittens and something is wrong"

Elrond sighed and felt a need to roll his eyes, right! He had seen their cat often, the huge long haired feline had looked like a balloon the last time he saw her and she had a nasty temperament and regarded all other beings as below herself, the kids involved but they adored the huge ball of fluff and claws. He wasn't a vet damn it, but it was clear that the kids were worried and he swallowed his pride. "Of course I will help, where is she?"

The kids waved their hands. "In the stable"

Elrond took a deep breath, being a midwife to a cat, well, why not? "I have to go and get some stuff, wait for me here"

He ran off and got some of his smallest instruments, then he returned and the two took him to the stable. The property owned by the parents of these two wasn't large but very nice and Elrond had enjoyed some pleasant conversations with their father who was working for king Ingwe, designing furniture for the royal palace. The cat lay on a heap of straw, panting and she growled when she saw them but didn't try to move. The long auburn coat made her look like a miniature lion and Elrond had seen the animal drag huge rats back home. She was one fierce lady and it was obvious that she was in trouble. Elrond had never been a midwife to a cat before, horses and cows, humans and elves and even dwarrowdams but never felines and he grimaced and got down on his knees. The kids just stood there, with huge eyes and confidence written all over their faces, they did trust him to save their pet so there was no way back. The reason for the problems was obvious, one humongous kitten who had gotten thoroughly stuck and Elrond rolled up his sleeves and tried to remember anything about feline anatomy.

He couldn't push the kitten back in, it was too far come for that so he had to get it out and he used a syringe to get some fluid into the cat's birthing canal before using some small forceps to pull. The cat yowled and shrieked and panted and the kids were pale as sheets, they shouldn't have to see this but what the hey, it was the facts of life, they couldn't stay shielded from them forever. After about twenty minutes of gentle pulling, some wriggling and squeezing the kitten was delivered and oddly enough it was alive and breathing. The cat immediately started washing it and Elrond sat there and watched as two more huge kittens were born. They didn't cause any problems and the fierce warrior was transformed to a loving mother. Even if he never had been a cat person he had to admit that it was a sweet sight. The kids were beside themselves with joy and the healer did feel good about himself as he returned to the infirmary. Celebrian was told of the incident and insisted on visiting to see the three small miracles and Elrond just crossed his fingers and prayed that she didn't want to adopt one of the kittens when they were old enough to leave their mother. He didn't want shedding and drooling animals in the hospital. One such animal encounter was enough, and that was for darn sure, he hoped that this was the last time. Had he only listened to that little voice at the back of his head, mumbling a silent warning…

Lirit did return to have his bandages changed regularly and he was sorry he couldn't work, there were lots of parties in the summer and his candy was sought after but people would just have to wait. The hospital was reopened and Elrond was beaming with pride when some claimed that this was the future of hospitals, clean and light and airy. They got a few patients, an ellon with a broken foot and an elleth who had broken two teeth which had to be pulled, not much but summer was after all a quiet time. Then things changed, one morning when he came to open the doors he was met by two families, both with sick children. It was a boy of seven and a girl of nine and both were showing some odd symptoms. Both were swollen everywhere but the face in special, had problems breathing and both had severe stomach cramps. Elrond realized that this was serious and called his assistants and the elfling and their terrified parents were shooed into a room each. The diarrhea caused the small ones to lose much fluid so he made them drink a lot. When he asked the parents he didn't find any apparent things in common, they didn't know each other at all, one family came from the coast and the other one from a village not far from the city.

The kids were terrified and screaming and he realized that both had hallucinations and he was utterly confused. What in Eru's name caused such symptoms in children? The swelling went down after a few hours but they were still very ill and then a new family did arrive, with two puking and swelling elflings. He realized that he now had a real problem on his hands, this was bad. The kids were in agony, writhing and screaming and the parents were beside themselves with fear, what could this be? He told the assistants that all other patients had to wait, unless it was a mortal injury, and he prepared to go to war yet again. Over the next two days the infirmary was filled with kids, most very sick. He was trying to find the cause but the parents didn't really have anything to say, they hadn't eaten anything unusual at all.

One evening a new family did arrive and they brought their son, an elfling of perhaps twelve, a sweet boy who wasn't really terribly ill, he just puked and had mild stomach cramps. As Elrond examined him he did notice that the kid had brought a small leather bag, and it was moving. He stared at it and the mother made an apologetic expression. "I am sorry my lord, it is his pet weasel, he goes nowhere without it"

Elrond just grunted" Right, just make sure the animal stays in the bag, we cannot have a weasel on the loose here"

The mother smiled and Elrond did find the exact same symptoms as in the other kids, just not as severe. None had died so far but the disease, whatever it was, caused intense pain and it did break his heart to see such young ones suffer. His assistants were working overtime, removing bowls of puke and changing sheets, most of the sick did sweat a lot and Elrond tried to help them by bathing them, which a few of the kids absolutely hated. Wild cries were heard rather often and the neighbours were staring whenever someone passed by the gate, wondering if they were torturing someone in there.

Elrond was in the middle of giving a wailing little elleth some pain relief when the mother of the kid with the weasel did appear in the door, she did look very sheepish. Elrond frowned. "Yes?"

The elleth swallowed hard. "Ah, I am so sorry, but…my son's weasel has escaped"

Elrond gaped, oh damnation! A hairy animal on the loose, where hygiene was ultra-important? He swore and called for his two youngest assistants. "Help her find the beast, it has to be found fast. I cannot imagine the damage it can cause here."

The two ran off and Elrond tried to concentrate on the work. He was just finished calming the poor child down when he heard a crash from the outside and then one of his assistants came running by, holding a broom like a spear and for a moment the dark haired ellon did remind him of his old friend Gil-Galad during the charge at the dark gates. In front of the ellon ran the weasel, but it wasn't brown and ordinary looking. It was bright purple!

Elrond just gaped and then he realized that the hairy torpedo had been in the storage room where they kept the left over paint. Now it ran as if all the balrogs of Morgoth were at its heals, spreading drops of purple paint everywhere and the assistant slipped in some of it and fell face first, breaking the broom in the fall. Elrond did hear a very nasty curse and the mother of the child he was treating put her hands over the child's ears but too late. The girl gleefully repeated what she had heard" Stop you hairy fucking cunt!"

Elrond had to help his assistant who had sprained his wrist in the fall and the weasel was gone, nowhere to be seen, except from the trail of tiny footprints everywhere and droplets of paint on curtains, beds and carpets. Elrond had to return to his work, and his apprentices were busy too for the number of sick elflings did increase by the hour, there had to be something they had in common, this wasn't contagious, it had to be something they had eaten. They had a small break to eat and Celebrian had shown up with some of her lady friends to help with the cleaning, now the ladies were splitting out to clean the floors and suddenly Elrond heard a loud shriek from one of the rooms and it wasn't a kid. It was a grown elleth and he ran off and was faced with the sight of a very dignified lady who was spinning around, desperately trying to shake off a weasel clinging to her braid. Elrond moaned, the lady had opened one of the cupboards to remove dust and the weasel had been inside of it, it had gnawed its way in and the cupboard contained several small sacks made from linen, it was their storage of dried herbs. The weasel had gnawed at them all, and a cloud of particles did hang in the air, making everybody cough.

Now nothing could be used, it was all contaminated. One of the Ellyn present tried to grasp onto the weasel, got bitten in the hand and the weasel went flying and hit another one of the ellith square in the chest. She wore a dress with a deep décolletage and the weasel did see a deep dark crack in which to hide. It disappeared into the elleth's bodice and she screamed like bloody murder and started tearing open her corset. Most of the Ellyn there just stood there, eyes wide open as she revealed way more skin than normal, when she did rip off her chemise too with a shriek the weasel did run down her legs and sought refuge behind a long row of benches placed along the wall. They contained Elrond's surgical instruments and the more expensive medicine and Elrond felt the need to repeat some of the curses they had used during the battles of the last alliance. The elleth was buck naked and one of the kids did giggle. "Big boobs, why is she showing her boobs?"

An assistant did throw a blanket over the elleth, the males there all looked a wee bit disappointed. Elrond sneered. "Alright, we will not rest until that hairy menace is caught, do you hear me? The patients have to wait!"

He ran to his office and returned with his old sword, at the moment he did look as if he once again was to charge into Dol Guldur, challenging ringwraiths or maybe Sauron himself. They started opening the shelves of the benches, hearing a lot of not very nice sounds. Glass was breaking, things turned upside down… Elrond couldn't believe the damage the tiny creature had managed to create in just a few minutes, and as they approached the far end of the bench he stood there ready with his blade. Everybody was staring at the crack between the bench and the wall, anticipating the weasel to appear there but the animal was smart. It suddenly appeared in the shelf one of the Ellyn pulled out and it let out a nasty shriek and jumped, ran between Elrond's legs and disappeared into the small fire place. The weasel was in the pipe and one bold father ran forth and grasped onto the handle which controlled the dampers installed inside of the top of the fireplace. Elrond didn't have time to think, nobody did. The dampers hadn't been moved in years and now, when they suddenly were moved rather violently they did shake lose all the sooth accumulated over the years since the building was first erected. A huge black cloud of sooth did emerge and suddenly the entire room was filled with the greasy substance.

Everybody was hacking and wheezing and Elrond roared for the room to be evacuated. Everybody was covered with greasy black sooth and they all looked like a bunch of wraiths as they appeared, and the weasel suddenly came sprinting out through the door, covered in sooth too, it disappeared into the room used for surgery and Elrond cursed so bad it was a miracle he didn't catch fire there and then. He slammed the door shut and screamed for his wife to get some water and new clothes. This was turning out to become a full blown disaster.

After an hour the entire staff had washed and changed their clothes and Elrond had decided that he wouldn't rest until the goddamn beast was captured. He had gotten some of the Ellyn to get some live traps, and bated them with sweet rolls and now the traps were pushed through the door and into the room. He just crossed his fingers, the place looked like an utter mess with paint and sooth and filth everywhere and as if that wasn't bad enough there were more families arriving with sick children. Elrond was starting to believe that someone had cast a very nasty curse upon them all.

The traps didn't work, the weasel was nowhere to be seen and he and two of the Ellyn present who happened to be hunters entered the room, all armed with nets and buckets. The room was not very large, and it didn't have much furniture so it should be easy enough to find the creature. They started by removing the small couch in the corner, it was there just so that people following a patient could sit and wait and they placed it outside. Then they opened every cupboard and looked into every thinkable place a weasel could hide. It wasn't there!

They looked again, no weasel! The room was completely weasel free and Elrond started to wonder if the weasel in truth was a creature of Sauron, equipped with a ring of invisibility. Where had the hairy marauder gone? They had to find it! But the quest was fruitless, no animals were found and Elrond had to return to his normal job as a healer. By now the infirmary was packed full of patients and he had to concentrate upon them. He was still unable to find a likely cause for the illness for even though they all were ill they had some differences in the symptoms which were baffling to say the least. One could be swelling and puking while another one had hallucinations and a headache. It was a mystery.

As the night did fall the weasel was nowhere to be seen and Elrond started to hope that it somehow had found its way out and had left the building. They had given the kids something to ease their discomfort and help them sleep and the infirmary did return to a peaceful state, or at least as close to it as possible. The parents did sleep next to their children on bedrolls on the floor and some ellith from the neighbourhood had volunteered to be nurses and kept watch over the room, making sure that everybody had water and food and warm blankets. Elrond was ploughing through his medicinal books, trying to find something, anything, which could cause this sort of mayhem, He did remember that middle earth sometimes were haunted by plagues, spread by everything from rats to mosquitoes but this was nothing like that and they were elves damn it, disease shouldn't affect them. And no adults were sick, that too told him something. He had fallen asleep with his head on top of an ancient scroll describing the effects of food poisoning in the naugrim when he heard a shriek. He jumped up and ran, a pen stuck to his cheek and he was utterly confused.

The sound came from one of the rooms, and the source was the kid who lay in the bed in the corner, he was wailing like mad and Elrond was afraid that the kid had taken ill again since he was relatively stabile. The mother of the little one stood there and she was pale all over, she held his blanket in her arms and was pointing at the middle of the bed. "The weasel, it was under his blanket!"

Elrond discretely removed the pen and took a deep breath, right, it was still there. The infernal abomination of Morgoth hadn't left after all. The boy made a small sob. "It ate my candy!"

He held a small bag in his hand and it was almost empty, a huge hole explained why. Elrond was counting slowly backwards from hundred, then he straightened up and managed to smile. "Well, at least that rabid little…weasel….didn't bite. Go back to sleep, we can get more candy tomorrow"

The boy sniffled and the mother tucked him back in, Elrond felt that this was getting way too much for him, candy eating weasels, sobbing kids, puke and cramps and hallucinations. He found a bench on which to sleep and drifted off, too tired to even remove his boots. Since he was exhausted he had some hefty dreams in which the weasel suddenly was the size of Smaug and had joined up with the witch king of Angmar, dead set on eating all the candy in the world and he and none less than Glorfindel was defending a huge pile of sweets, wielding candy canes instead of swords. He was awakened rather abruptly by one of his assistants and the ellon seemed very agitated. "My lord, you have got to see this!"

Elrond almost said that he was about to wrap the wraiths sorry as in candy paper but he managed to keep his mouth shut, he was delirious with a lack of sleep and worry. He followed the ellon into the room where they had the bath tubs and other washing equipment and lo and behold, in the middle of the room lay what could only be described as a huge hairy sausage with tiny legs. It was covered with purple paint and sooth and making wheezing sounds, unable to move. Around it was a pool of pule and shit and it did stink like nothing else Elrond had ever smelled. It was worse than an orc's den. His first thought was to grab the nearest hard object and send the goddamn animal to hell but then he realized what he was seeing. The weasel was swollen, and puking, and probably hallucinating, like the kids! What had it done this very night? Oh yes!

Elrond spun around on his heel. "Get a box and stuff the animal into it, a solid one. There is something I must check!"

He ran to the room where the boy with the candy lay and he was asleep but the mother still sat there, half asleep. She looked a bit nervous when Elrond came running like that, he tried to smile. "The candy, do you have more of it?"

She frowned but grasped a small bag she had brought with some spare clothes and stuff and pulled out a small paper bag. Elrond grasped it and opened it, a few pieces of candy fell into his hand and he stared at them. These were not the sort of candy Lirit would make, these did look very different and he could smell it too. He felt his heart speeding up, maybe? "Lady, where did you get this candy?"

The elleth shrugged. "A very nice ellon was giving out free samples, it was at the market."

Elrond bit his lower lip. "At the market where?"

She blinked. "Here in the city, but he said he was travelling around, trying to find customers. The one we normally buy candy from is ill and this one was trying to create his own business apparently."

Elrond swore and the elleth went pale, the curses Elrond had learned over the millennia were seldom heard on this side of the sundering sea and thus so more potent. The elleth had probably never heard anyone mentioning Manwë's private parts in such a setting before, it was nearly enough to make her faint. Elrond knew what he had to do and he went to work with new zeal and vigor. He interviewed every parent and every kid, woke everybody up but didn't care and exactly as he suspected by now, everybody had eaten candy. Some had been given samples on the streets, some had bought candy for a begetting day party or something like that while others had been tasting the stuff while visiting others, but the common factor was found and it was undeniable, it was the candy. Elrond felt relieved, so much so that he barely could stand but at the same time it was a huge problem for that candy maker could have been giving out samples everywhere. Which meant that there could be hundreds of new cases waiting for him. Oh Eru, the ellon had to be stopped!

Elrond woke up his apprentices and gave them letters to deliver to the head of the royal guard, both in this city and Valmar and Tirion. He even sent one of the Ellyn off to Alqualonde and they were given strict orders to inform everybody they saw that they shouldn't accept candy from anyone. They rode off and now Elrond had to discover what it was about these pieces of seemingly innocent candy that made elflings ill. He got some more bags from other parents who had brought some and set up a makeshift laboratory in the surgical room. Celebrian did discover how the weasel had escaped the room, it had gnawed its way into the couch, defecating and pissing in it and thus ruining it completely and it had to be tossed out, the animal had been inside of it when Elrond and the hunters carried it out.

Elrond couldn't care less about the goddamn weasel now, it was caught and end of that story and he rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Elladan and Elrohir did drop by, they had been visiting Tirion and had returned that very morning and now they did help him out. It was very apparent that the candy maker was taking shortcuts for the stuff wasn't exactly of top quality. Elrond had learned a lot about the art from Lirit and this candy was cheap. The sugar was probably not very pure, and the taste rather dubious but they were sweet and to kids that is all that matters. It had to be the stuff added to create the flavour which was the cause of the sickness and he managed to determine that there were four basis tastes and some which were made by mixing the four with each other in different doses. But what sort of ingredients were they? He had no idea! They had to find the candy maker, and soon.

Elrond managed to get a whole bunch of young elves to run all over the city and hang up warnings on every street corner, then he sent letters to everybody he knew in the other cities, warning them of the problem and the postal service was very fast since the high kings of the elves had started using carrier pigeons to deliver the mail. The birds were fast and smart and never failed to deliver their messages. Before noon a whole swarm of pigeons did return carrying answers and Elrond did realize that the problem was spread to this city, some along the coast and a few villages around the ports but it hadn't reached the major cities yet. Thank Eru for that grace.

But two days went by before the candy maker was identified and caught, and in the two days Elrond did receive even more patients since not everybody had gotten the warnings yet. Luckily he now knew that the disease wasn't lethal, and some kids did recover pretty fast too so the panic did subside but it was still rather harrowing as distraught families showed up. It was one of the guards of king Ingwë who came with the candy maker, the ellon had been caught trying to enter the city and luckily the guards had received Elrond's orders. The ellon was a very young fellow, not bad looking and obviously very confused as to why he was dragged off, to an infirmary! Elrond stared at the elf who was getting more and more nervous, staring at the famous healer. He didn't look like a bad person and Elrond pointed at a chair. "Sit!"

That was an order and the ellon squealed and sat down, getting more nervous by the second. "So you have been handing out candy right? To elflings and families?"

The ellon nodded. "Yes? I am trying to make a living and with that other guy out of business I thought I could try candy making"

Elrond almost growled. "And have you been trained in any way? Have you been an apprentice perhaps?"

The ellon shook his head, looking confused, " No? It is just candy, how hard is it really to make that?"

Elrond rolled his eyes. "Listen up, thanks to your candy elflings are showing up by the score, sick as dogs, and it is your fault"

The ellon gaped "Ha?"

Elrond nodded sternly. "You heard me, some are very ill. So what the fuck have you been adding to the sugar"

The ellon was sweating, eyes flickering. "Uh, I found a recipe in the library, it was old but readable. I used that"

Elrond frowned. "And you shouldn't happen to have that recipe here right now?"

The ellon nodded, he lifted his bag and searched through it, frantically. "Yes, here"

Elrond received a piece of parchment, very old with writings which were barely visible. It was a very old form of writing, dating back to before Fëanor invented tengwar and few could read it these days. "You translated it?"

The ellon tried to smile. "Yes"

Elrond sighed, he had problems reading it himself even if he was used to such old scrolls. "Listen, what's your name?"

The ellon squeaked. "Ornrion my lord"

Elrond slammed his fist down onto the parchment. "You are a fool, a goddamn fool who didn't seek advice from someone with experience. This is not a recipe for candy, this is a recipe for something they used to get rid of rats on ships! It left the animals so dazed and swollen it was easy to grab them and throw them overboard."

Ornrion looked like a giant question mark. "Hu?!"

Elrond had already realized that this wasn't the sharpest shed in the tool, to be polite. "See? This sign means rodent, not elfling, and this sentence? –will always be efficient when extermination is needed-"

Ornrion gaped like a fish on dry land. "Uh, I didn't manage to translate that one"

Elrond was close to exploding. "And yet you used the recipe? Without even knowing what it was? Some of these ingredients are poisonous you twat!"

Elrond sank back into the chair. "Be glad an elfling is way larger than a rat, or else lives would have been lost. "

He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Here, write down every place you have been with that goddamn rat poison of yours, then you can write a confession. I will leave it to the high king to decide what to do with you for I am at the moment tempted to commit kin slaying"

Ornrion squeaked again and started writing with a horrible handwriting and an obvious lack of skill. Elrond sent a guard to get more elves to go to Ornrion's home and remove all the candy they could find and burn it. The confession was sent to the king and some guards came to take Ornrion away, the day after his brother did show up, deeply disturbed by what the lad had done. Ornrion was the sort of person who always tried to get things the easy way and he didn't bother with really working to achieve something, the family was not all that shocked by the result. Elrond was very busy with the new cases but by then the candy had been removed from people's homes and the word had been spread and few new cases arrived. He received word from the king rather fast, Ornrion wasn't even come of age so he couldn't be severely punished, but the high king did force him to go to school and then he would become an apprentice to the local mason, it was hard work, and Elrond had to snigger. He knew that the mason master was a very demanding fellow who saw discipline and toughness as the key to success. Ornrion would learn a much more useful trade for sure, and maybe even grow up a bit.

The patients started to recover and one by one returned home, the hospital would have to be scrubbed down and repainted and Elrond was sitting in his favourite chair, considering the expenses when a familiar looking elleth appeared in the doorway. Oh yes, the mother of the elfling with the weasel, what now? They were to leave this afternoon? He looked up at her. "Yes?"

She bit her lower lip. "My lord…I am so sorry, so very sorry, but…my son opened the box and…the weasel has escaped again"

Elrond just blinked, horrified. Then he threw his head back, yelling. "Celebrian, go to the market and buy a terrier dog, this very moment!"


	9. Nuts nuts nuts

Chapter nine: Nuts nuts nuts…..

The day was a very nice one, the forest outside of Tirion was peaceful in the midday heat and only a few birds had the energy to make sound. In the middle of a clearing a few elves had stopped for a break, they had ridden out to hunt earlier that morning and now it was just too warm and they had decided to rest for a while. They were five in number and all were male, two were young and almost identical except from their colouring and people often had to look twice at them in order to determine whether or not they were twins.

Right now they were resting leaning against a log and their father was arguing with the two hunters who had accompanied them, he wasn't so sure about the possible outcome of the hunt if they didn't move to somewhere more cool. The deer weren't stupid, they had probably moved closer to the river where it was shade and not this baking hot. The ellon was tall and a bit sturdier than normal for an elf and his features told of mixed blood, to anyone having lived in Doriath he would have been a familiar sight. Dior son of Luthien and Beren was known for being handsome and he still was, Namo had returned him in a body similar to his old one and he was still a bit vain but no longer a king. He had thrown all that stuff away and now he lived a peaceful life in a secluded village south of the capital where he helped his wife who was a clothes designer and also spent his days on his several hobbies. He had always been fond of crafting stuff and now he did have the time to pursue those interests.

His sons had come to visit, they were grown now and had a life of their own after being re-embodied and the fact that Elured had rather dark skin because of the heritage from Beren and Elurin being pale often made people confused. This hunting trip was one they had planned for quite a while and Dior had been looking forward to it. The relationship between him and his sons had been a wee bit strained for a while due to the tragic events of their pasts but now things were good and so was life. All wore hunting outfits and carried bows and hunting daggers and the twins had removed their tunics, both were sweating. After a while the two hunting masters decided that they indeed ought to move on, the hill they were on had become like a baking oven and the heat made the air shiver.

Dior was riding behind his sons and his horse was a skittish one so he had to keep a steady hand on the reins, but now the animal started to act up for some reason. The rider was squirming in the saddle, and he was sweating a lot. Elured slowed his own horse down a bit. "Ada, are you alright?"

Dior just smiled, a somewhat strained smile. "Of course son, it is just…the heat"

He had to fight the urge to scratch himself in a very inappropriate area, he was itching like mad! It had to be the sweat that seeped down his back and ended up in the crack of his ass and by Eru, it did make him go almost insane. He was very aware of his dignity, and since he after all had some mortal blood from his father he had always had a wee bit of an inferiority complex, he tried to impress others to prove himself and he had kept some of that even now. It was hardwired into his personality.

After a few hours he just couldn't stand it anymore, the itch had become a burn and his new leather pants were just too warm for such a day, They offered nice protection when you rode through thick bushes but so far they hadn't done anything even resembling hunting for real and he was in actual pain. He convinced the twins of the necessity of returning home and they agreed, although reluctantly. But they did see that their father was in some sort of distress and knew him so well that they didn't ask, he would deny having problems even if they tortured him.

The twins said goodbye by the gates and rode off to their own home and Dior entered the villa he and Nimloth owned, it was a rather grand building and some may even call it a small palace but it was cozy and tasteful and he loved it. He was waddling more than walking as he entered and headed straight for the bathroom to get rid of the sweat. It had to be the cause of the burning sensation for sure. The bathroom was a grand one, it was one of the luxuries they had both wanted and it had several pools and it was a marvel of shiny tiles and elegant architecture. He got rid of the soaked tunic and vest, then his boots and his belt and socks went flying and now he was desperate to get cooled down. He tore his pants off without even looking and jumped into the nearest pool with a distinct lack of dignity. Oh Eru, it felt divine, he sighed deeply with relief but then he frowned, the itch continued? He sort of growled, he was more sensitive and susceptible to ailments than a full blooded elf and that did sometimes cause problems. It had to be skin irritation from having chaffed against the saddle all day. He stayed in the water, hoping it would take the edge off it.

He stayed in until his wife came sauntering, she had heard her husband returning and having been alone all day had made her sort of lonely so she decided to keep him company. It was no surprise he was in the bath and she grinned and felt a bit wicked, she knew that nobody would disturb them in there so what about a bit of fun? They had a very loving and passionate marriage and screw those who claimed that married couples ought to forget about the needs of the flesh after having had the appropriate number of offspring. She caught his gaze and worried her lower lip between her teeth while slowly undoing the laces of her bodice. Nimloth was famous for designing dresses which were both elegant and exotic and the one she wore now was quite revealing since it was made from a very thin almost transparent fabric in several multi coloured layers. Dior swallowed, his eyes got wide and dark and Nimloth giggled, she knew exactly what he found arousing and a slow teasing strip was on top of that list. She wriggled a bit to add a little extra to the show and was looking forward to a steamy hour or two, undisturbed by the servants.

She was about to get into the pool herself, completely naked when she noticed that her husband had a rather pained expression on his face, and he had an odd posture too. She frowned, tilted her head. "Sweetheart, is something wrong?"

Dior swallowed, there was an expression of slight panic in his eyes. "Uh, I….Have a problem"

Nimloth got worried, Dior never admitted to having any sort of problems with anything unless it was bloody serious and she put her hands on her hips and stared at him. "What? Keep talking, what is the problem?"

Dior sort of moaned and then he got up, slowly and with visible pain. Nimloth didn't understand until she let her eyes slide downwards towards his more interesting area, then she got pale and gasped audibly. "Dior?! What in Eru's name have you been doing?!"

He blushed. "I got sweaty, I bet it is the cause for this, the saddle chaffed."

Nimloth stared at her husband's lower region with huge eyes, he was both swollen and sore and the skin appeared to crack here and there, oozing clear liquid. It did look terribly painful and she saw that both his balls and gweth were red and swollen too. No fun today, that was for bloody sure. "Saddle sores? No way dear, that is not saddle sores, nor irritation caused by sweating, that is something much worse!"

Dior just whimpered, he hated to disappoint his wife and unfortunately the mere idea of trying to be amorous now was more painful than arousing. Nimloth ordered him to get out of the pool then she kneeled down to have a closer look at the misery. Dior had more body hair than an ordinary elf but he shaved since he hated it and thus she could see everything. "This is some sort of rash"

Dior closed his eyes, now that he was out of the water the burning sensation only got worse and he was almost panting. The pain was getting very strong and Nimloth made a grimace. "I have some ointment which ought to do the trick, wait here"

Dior just nodded, he felt miserable and scared too. Nimloth threw a bath robe over herself and ran off and after a while she returned with a jar with some milky white thin liquid. She didn't hesitate but started to smear it onto her husband's sore skin and he had to let out a small yell for it did burn at first and then it was wonderfully blessedly cool. He sighed with relief and Nimloth had a stern expression on her face. "Now you go off to bed, I have ordered the servants to put some smooth satin sheets on it, you need to relax and sleep so your body can get a chance at healing itself"

Dior obeyed, he knew better than to disobey his wife when she was in that mood and he got a robe on and she walked him to the bedroom. It was huge and airy and even in the heat it was a pleasant temperature there. He got into the bed and let out a small sigh, wonderful. A bit of sleep and he would be alright again, and then they could have some fun, hopefully. He was almost on his way to dreamland when there was a loud thud and the bed shook. He opened an eye, oh great, his wife's cat. It was a humongous animal, black as pitch and very protective of them both. With the long fur it did look very intimidating and the yellow eyes were piercing. It did sense that its favourite male slave was in distress and wanted to see if it could do something to help.

The cat had come to them out of the woods one day and Dior had a strong suspicion that it was one of Oromë's creatures. It was so large it scared the living daylights out of the hunting dogs and it had an imperial temper and a royal demeanour. Dior had named the creature Ancalagon, just to tick off his son in law and Eärendil's reaction when he first met the beast was priceless. He had never been a cat person and suddenly Anca had just come strolling by and jumped straight up into the elf's lap.

He had almost fallen off his chair and he did nearly choke on his wine when they told him the name of the cat. "You named your cat after that monster?!"

Ancalagon had just purred contently with having found another slave which was to his liking and he had licked the mariner's nose with a rough tongue. Eärendil had almost lost it and Dior had laughed until he got a stomach ache. Now Anca went over the bed with a self-righteous expression on his face and stepped on Dior's sore crotch. The elf let out a yell of pain and Anca threw him a glance which said it all "Sissy!"

The cat planted its massive front paws on Dior's chest and then it started to paw and purr and drool, as he usually did when he was having a good time. Dior was suffering, Anca was heavy, at least thirty pounds of cat and he didn't care if he was performing acupuncture on the people he was trying to snuggle with. He whimpered, then he had to shout. "Nimloth, light of my life, please, save me from this …dragon spawn"

Nimloth entered and had to laugh. " Oh dear, he is just trying to be helpful? He knows you are in pain and wants to heal you"

Dior grunted as one of the cat's hind legs landed on his manhood. "Gha, heal? More like geld, please, get him off me, now!"

Nimloth giggled and lifted the drooling cat, Dior rolled his eyes with relief, sometimes he did suspect that Ancalagon was the real Ancalagon, reincarnated as a cat, brought back just to torment them all but then again, it was a phenomenal hunter and very loving, it was just so darn huge! And it had no respect for the boundaries of others at all.

With the cat gone Dior fell into a deep sleep rather fast, and Nimloth left some more lotion by the bed, just in case he woke up and needed more. The lotion was a good one and she was sure it would take care of the problem. When Dior woke up the next morning it was all too clear that the problem hadn't gotten any better, in fact it had gotten worse, way worse. The swelling was starting to look almost grotesque and the pain was excruciating, he was in tears and writhing in agony.

Nimloth was getting afraid, very afraid. "Dear, we are going to see our grandson, he is the best healer there is, he has to be able to do something about this"

Dior went pale. "Elrond?! Oh Eru now, I cannot let my own grandson see this? No way elleth, call for one of the maiar or something!"

Nimloth stared at him with narrow eyes. "Oh yeah? And having to wait for a week before any of them bother to respond? Yes he is our grandson but he is also extremely skilled and he has seen all sorts of disease back in middle earth. We are going and there is no point in trying to argue love, I will order the servants to ready a carriage"

Dior whimpered. "But…."

Nimloth raised a finger. "No butts except yours, it needs some medical attention and swiftly"

She walked off and Dior groaned and hid his face within his hands, having to reveal all this misery to his own flesh and blood was terrible. But at least it was his grand son and not his daughter, that would have been way worse. Before long a carriage was made ready with good and well rested horses and Dior was carried into it by some very worried servants. They weren't told any details, just that their master was in need of medical attention and they could see that he was in severe pain and that he was in real trouble. Nimloth had covered one of the seats with cushions and now Dior laid on them, on his stomach, with his feet in the air since he was too tall to fit into the seat otherwise. He felt like a complete moron and ordered Nimloth to cover the carriage windows so nobody saw him like that, laying on cushions with his legs spread and bent. The carriage was a very nice one with a good suspension and breaks so the ride was smooth but still Dior suffered. The pain was never ending and he feared that this would turn into something even worse.

The drive to the village where Elrond had his hospital did take some hours and by the time they reached it the horses were steaming and Nimloth was beside herself with worry. The swelling seemed to spread and Dior was almost in tears by now. They stopped the carriage and Nimloth jumped out and ran to the door, she was really afraid now. Elrond stepped out since he had heard the carriage and he stopped and gaped when he saw who it was. "Grandmother?! What are you doing here? You should have sent someone ahead, I have not prepared for a visit at all, the house is a mess and Celebrian is out with her friends…"

Nimloth shook her head. "This is no ordinary visit dear, it is your grandfather, he needs help"

Elrond frowned and two servants helped Dior out of the carriage, the half elf could not walk on his own now and he was shivering all over. Elrond gestured for them to follow him into the hospital and he was shocked to see the state his grandfather was in. Dior had always been well known for his dignity and pride, he did resemble his mother's father in that manner but now he was a mess. Eyes bloodshot and body trembling and he had a death grip on his robes. Nimloth pretended to be admiring some very lovely flowers Celebrian had left on a shelf. "Elrond, he is more stubborn than a Balrog with a toothache, he won't let you examine him, I can tell that before you even try."

Elrond frowned. "But I have to see the problem to be able to heal it?!"

Nimloth nodded and sniffed the flowers, whispering. "Exactly, drug him!"

Elrond almost choked. "What?!"

Nimloth sneered. "You heard me, give him some wine with drugs in, he has to sleep!"

Elrond turned his head, Dior was yelling at one of the elves helping out at the hospital and he refused to remove his robe. Elrond was about to say that he couldn't drug his own grand father when there was a crash and the door opened. Elrond stared with huge eyes at the huge cat which entered with a haughty meow and Nimloth gasped . "Ancalagon?! Oh dear, he must have taken a nap in the baggage compartment of the carriage and slept the whole way here"

Elrond just gaped. "An…An…Ancalagon?!"

Nimloth giggled. "Oh yes, but he is harmless, just huge"

The cat sauntered over to its master and started rubbing itself against his legs, purring. It sounded a bit like an huge engine. Dior frowned. "No. stay away from me you creature of Morgoth, do you hear? I don't want to cuddle now!"

Ancalagon just sent him a very haughty stare and aimed for Dior's lap and Nimloth had to save her husband yet again. Elrond was thinking fast, he turned around and pretended to look for some clean gloves and he found a cup and poured some drops into it from a small jar before he sort of walked over to a table in the corner and grasped a bottle of wine. "You both look like you need some refreshments before we do anything, wine?"

Dior nodded eagerly. "Yes, please! I am thirsty"

Elrond made sure to mix the liquid he had poured into the cup with the wine, Nimloth shoo her head and smiled. "No wine for me thanks, I am dizzy, it has to be the heat."

Dior took the cup and drained it with glee, the medicine was a sweet one so there was no way he could discover it, Elrond used it to control kids who went ballistic when they were examined. Dior stared at the cup. "That was great stuff, you have a good taste in wine Elrond"

Elrond had given Dior a royal dose and suddenly the tall sinda blinked twice before he sort of collapsed into Elrond's arms. Nimloth let out a sigh of relief but the cat let out a yowl of displeasure, his slave was unconscious? That couldn't be right! Elrond had to grasp the animal and shut him into a closet to keep him away. Nimloth and the two apprentices present hauled Dior onto a bench and then she removed the robe he had been wearing. Elrond's first reaction was to cringe, then he sort of swallowed his feeling of slight discomfort and intense compassion and became professional. The swelling and the redness told him that this was rather bad and he stared at Nimloth. "When did this start?"

She made a grimace. "Yesterday, he was out riding with your uncles and when he got back he was itching, and it had started to swell and get red"

Elrond put on a pair of gloves and did a swift examination, trying to forget that it was his own grandfather he was examining. It was all over, and it was spreading too. That was rather obvious and he scratched his head and bit his lower lip. It did look almost like the kind of reaction you get when you have been in contact with poison ivy but that specific plant didn't grown anywhere near Tirion and no elf was stupid enough to rub themselves with it, and in special not in such a sensitive area. He had heard of humans mistaking poison ivy for something harmless but elves didn't do that, not even half blooded ones. Nimloth was wringing her hands and she did look very worried. "I tried some lotion and it seemed to help for a while but this morning it was just worse than ever"

Elrond nodded. "I have some very strong lotion which works wonders against rashes, let us try that"

He went over and found some and Nimloth smeared it onto the red and cracking skin. Elrond knew that his grandfather was a bit more vulnerable than an ordinary elf due to his mortal father and the blood of Melian seemed to just follow the female line of the family. Dior was snoring lightly and they heard angry meows from the closet. Nimloth made an apologetic smile. "I am sorry about the cat Elrond, he often sleeps in the carriage and I guess the servants forgot to check whether or not he was there this morning."

Elrond just nodded, he couldn't think about the pissed off feline now, what was causing the rash, and the swelling? "Have he done something out of the ordinary lately?"

Nimloth frowned. "What do you mean?"

Elrond shrugged. "Anything really? Eaten something new? Tried some new wine?"

Nimloth shook her head. "No? Not that I know of? We do know that he does respond to nuts but he is aware of that and stays clear of them. We don't allow nuts in our house at all."

Elrond frowned, "He is allergic to nuts?"

Allergies were almost unheard of among elves, they barely knew what it was and Elrond knew that this sort of allergy could be fatal to humans. Nimloth nodded. "Yes, since his re-embodiment. He wasn't before but we guess that his mortal blood has caused some problems for Namò and his maiar"

Elrond smiled. "Could be that, so he reacts badly?"

Nimloth rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, coughing and wheezing, peanuts are the worst. He gets ill just from the smell of them"

Elrond stared at the skin exposed and sighed. This couldn't have been caused by an allergy to nuts? It should have been all over him then. The ointment seemed to reduce the redness but the swelling was still severe and Elrond mixed a drink which should strengthen the immune system and help his grandfather recover. "It is some sort of contact rash, it comes from the outside, not from within, that is the only thing I am certain off."

NImloth just nodded, she wasn't a healer and she was just worried for her husband. They stood there staring and wondering when another carriage could be heard entering the yard and Elrond sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't need more patients now, this one was more than enough, what the heck was wrong with Dior? Then they heard familiar voices and Elrond did a facepalm, Eru no! Not his parents, not now!

Nimloth squealed and threw a blanket over Dior who still snored and Elrond felt a wee bit trapped. The door opened and Elwing rushed in, obviously upset. "Mother, is it true that ada is ill?!"

Nimloth had to nod and Elrond saw that his father followed right behind Elwing, he did look worried too and it had to be one of those few days when he was off duty as a captain of his ship. Nimloth tried to smile. "He has a rash dear, and some swelling, nothing too serious we hope."

Elwing stared at him, her eyes huge. "Then why the bloody hell is he unconscious?!"

Elrond cleared his throat" Ah, because I had to sedate him in order to see the problem, he is kind of proud, and stubborn"

Elwing groaned. "Oh ada, he haven't changed even a bit! Always his damned pride. How bad is it?"

Eärendil heard the thumping sounds coming from the closet and walked over and before Elrond could stop him the mariner opened the closet. He got a very angry ball of black fur straight in his arms and let out a shriek and staggered backwards as Ancalagon did his best to transform his best robes into confetti. Nimloth hid her face in her hands and Elwing just stared with her mouth wide open. "What in Eru's name is that mutated cat monster doing here?!"

Nimloth shrugged. "He slept in the carriage and sort of hitched a ride with us"

Elwing walked over and grabbed the cat and saved her husband from looking like a bum, the cat hissed and jumped out of her grasp and onto the bed. There it planted itself firmly on Dior's chest and stared at them, there was a clear challenge in the golden gaze. "Dare try to move me" it said.

Elrond could have done well without all the visitors, and he sort of groaned. "Please, I need to do my job. There are some spare rooms over in the other wing of the hospital, do go there please. I will join you when I know more"

Nimloth managed to smile. "Yes dear, of course."

She sort of herded her daughter and son in law out the door and Elrond did take a huuge sigh of relief, it was always tricky when the patients were someone he knew. He just thanked Eru that his sons weren't there at the moment, they would have been all over this case. He smeared more ointment onto the damaged skin, gave his slumbering grandfather some liquids and then it was just a waiting game to see if it worked.

The evening sun had set now and darkness fell so he ordered the guests over to his own house, Celebrian had returned from the trip with her friends and was beside her self with frustration for not having been there earlier and the servants were ordered to prepare the best rooms. She did entertain her guests pretty well and was a perfect hostess but the nervousness was obvious, everybody worried about Dior. What in heavens name had caused such a nasty reaction?

Late at night Elrond did return home, the ointments and drinks had helped a lot but the rash still looked awful and Dior had woken up and been rather pissed off when he realized that Elrond had seen the misery up close. Now he was resting and Elrond had given him some very strong wine just to subdue him further. A grumpy Dior was not a very nice person to be around.

That night Ancalagon insisted on sleeping in the room Eärendil and Elwing had been given and the huge cat kept them both awake since it switched between them and tried to sleep on top of them. Elwing was almost smothered by the giant hairball and Eärendil was grunting and turning and trying to push the cat off but he just sank his claws deeper into the poor elf and did hang on like a barnacle. Neither of the two got any sleep that night, and when the morning came Eärendil was red eyed and looked as if he had fought a hard battle once more. He came down for breakfast with his hair in a mess and Celebrian had to hide her smirk. He emptied a cup of strong tea and yawned. "Morgoth's balls, I would rather fight that cat's namesake again, I don't bloody care if he sleeps on us because he "loves" us, I can do without it"

Elrond had already left for the hospital and Dior was asleep, the servants and the apprentices were relieved for he had been very demanding at times. The swelling had gone down quite a bit and the redness too and Elrond thanked Eru that his medicine seemed to help. But it did tell them one thing, the reaction was caused by some sort of allergy and could the half elf have developed a new sort of allergy? They had to find out unless he could encounter whatever it was he reacted to once more and suffer an even worse reaction.

Elrond was really trying to understand what it was that his grandfather had come across, the rash was only on his lower body, could it be something in the water? If he had been wading in some pond or river and something had come into contact with his skin? Elrond just didn't know. Nimloth and the others did come over after breakfast and all tried to come up with suggestions. Elwing looked frustrated and Eärendil was still rather angry with the cat and sat there sulking. He had replaced the torn robes and Celebrian had found a tunic he had put on instead. Now he was standing there looking like a thundercloud.

Elrond was giving Dior some more medicine when they heard loud swearing from the outside and Ancalagon came rushing into the room with an angry servant right behind, the cat had grasped onto a long thin piece of leather and had great fun teasing the clumsy elf and Elrond sighed and shook his head. Rashes and cats and…Eru!

He grasped the leather cord from the cat and Ancalagon growled and started tugging at the other end, it became a tug-o-war against the feline who refused to let go. The servant looked apologetic. "I am sorry my lord, I bought some of the new leather from Tirion to fix the seat of some chairs and the cat snatched this piece"

Nimloth smiled. "That leather is just gorgeous isn't it, so soft and so smooth"

Elwing grinned. "Yes, everybody wants something made in it, Eärendil's pants are made from it"

Nimloth giggled. "Oh, Dior's too. I got him a new pair some days ago, he wore it hunting yesterday. Those leather pants makes his posterior look amazing"

Elrond managed to snatch the leather from the cat and then he stared at his hand, it had turned brown, a very nice tan colour and he swore. "Tell me, do they dye that leather?"

Nimloth nodded. "Yes, there are so many nice colours too, I have gotten myself some blue pieces, I want to make some wrist protectors for Dior."

Elrond stared at the stains and he remembered one day ages ago when he and his brother had been riding out with their foster fathers. They had come across some avarin elves picking nuts and the husks had been gathered when the meat was removed. Elrond had asked what they possibly could use the empty husks for and Maglor had explained that they used them to produce dye. It clicked, Elrond gaped and turned to Nimloth. "Grandfather's new leather pants, are they light reddish brown?"

Nimloth blinked, she looked confused. "Yes? How come?"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Give them away, or burn them! They have been dyed with nuts, that's what caused Dior's rash!"

Nimloth gaped and Elwing blinked. "Can allergy really cause something that horrible?!"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, it can. So no more nuts anywhere from now on, make sure that nothing you have is dyed with the stuff"

Nimloth took a deep sigh, she closed her eyes. "Thank goodness , at least we know. I had no idea they used nuts to dye leather"

Elrond smiled. "They do, so be careful from now on."

Since the cause was found the atmosphere became much lighter and Elrond rewarded Ancalagon with a huge piece of meat, just for having shown them the light so to speak. The rash and swelling did disappear after a few days and Dior became his old self again, but he was very embarrassed and blushed whenever Elrond spoke to him. Eärendil started sleeping in the carriage the last nights they were there, it was the only place where the cat didn't seek him out since he saw it as beneath his dignity to sleep there during the night. Dior and Nimloth returned home after a week, and Elrond had to admit that he never would have thought of the leather pants as a source of the problem. The infamous pants were sent as a gift to a very uppity ellon neither Nimloth nor Dior liked particularly much and he suddenly developed an odd tan from his waist down.

Elrond received a letter from Nimloth some days later, Dior was back to his old self in every way now, they had spent almost an entire day in bed to make up for lost time and every little piece of that red brown leather had been removed. The only sad consequence was that Dior's allergy had gotten worse so now nobody was allowed to even eat nuts before visiting them and if they were to visit others all nuts had to be taken away. Elwing was complaining for she loved peanuts but now she had to stay away from them unless she wanted to cause her father great discomfort. Nimloth just claimed that the nuts made her put on weight so it was for the best and Elrond sent them a very nice collar for Ancalagon, made in golden leather, absolutely one hundred percent nut free!


	10. Songbird with a foul mouth

Chapter 10: Songbird with a foul mouth….

Elrond had been busy the last days, in fact he had been scurrying around with wild eyes and his robes messy and he hadn't had time to sit down at all. It was the annual sports festival and this year the theme of the festival was equestrianism and suddenly he had his hospital filled with horse related injuries. The festival did attract elves from far and wide and to his horror most of those who were competing were people who really shouldn't have been there at all. Not all elves were perfect on horseback and now it became very clear indeed. He had elves who had gotten bitten by ornery horses, elves with fractures from being thrown, elves who had been squeezed by horses, stepped on by horses, kicked by horses and so on and so forth and some of the injuries had been very serious. He was using all his knowledge and tried to think positively, the festival was soon to be over, thank Eru for that.

His assistants and apprentices were hard at work too and even though they learned a lot they all would have preferred a much less stressed out situation, they just never knew what was next. When the steady stream of patients did slow down the healer let out a huge sigh of relief and so did the rest of the household. Celebrian was glad she soon would have her husband back, he hadn't been home for a week! He looked as if he had been in the midst of a huge battle, hair unkempt, clothes stained and stinking and he was waddling around in a state of fatigue. She just prayed that there would be no more patients for a while, he needed to recover. Their sons were off visiting their grandfather and would be there for yet a few months and Celebrian had been busy with her garden, she wanted to change the layout of it completely and thus she was hard at work most of the time.

The assistants had begun tidying up the infirmary when Elrond finally got a break, the last patient had left, a young fellow who had managed to get stepped upon by a nervous horse and he had to have some toe nails removed and some nasty bruises taken care off. It had been an easy case with no fractures but the elf in question had been so darn angry he had been close to spitting flames, at least his vocabulary had been pretty hefty at times. Elrond had sort of collapsed into a chair while the floors were being mopped and equipment washed and sterilized, it was important that they got things back to normal just in case. He didn't want his hospital to be transformed into a pig sty, and removing the filth immediately usually meant less work in the long run. The floors were covered with horse manure and mud and the chairs had a thick layer of horse hairs on them. The place was a mess.

Elrond had almost fallen asleep when one of the elves working there as a servant shook him ever so gently. "My lord? Sorry to wake you up, but there is someone in the waiting room"

Elrond let out a sigh so deep it felt as if he was trying to expel all of his intestines, oh no. Not one more patient! He just….he hadn't got the energy for it! He stared at the servant. "What is it? A fracture? A bite?"

The servant just frowned. "Ah no sire, it is a young ellon, he doesn't look injured at all, in fact he is a picture of perfect health but he looks a wee bit nervous"

Elrond did sigh again, in relief. Right, the festival also brought another sort of problem, some elves sometimes did have a wee bit too much fun, and at times that fun could be had with someone they really should have stayed clear off. This was probably someone who had woken up in the wrong bed or something without any memories of how that happened and needed help to come up with an excuse, a medical one. He sighed and got up, put on a hopefully kind smile and knew that he looked like crap with bloodshot eyes and his hair looked like a crow's nest. "Right, let's see what ails this healthy young ellon then"

The ellon was sitting in one of the chairs and he was one of the tall and somewhat dark sindar who lived not far from the shore. They usually made a living making furniture and things out of leather and Elrond gave him a polite nod and tried desperately to hide a yawn. "Hello, now what seems to be the problem?"

The ellon blushed and cringed. "Uhm, ah, the problem isn't me, ah,. I am fine, it is…it is my wife"

Elrond got a bit confused. "Your wife? Then why isn't she here with you?"

The ellon made a grimace. "I haven't told her I was going to see you, she is a bit crazy you see, and she would go nuts if I told her I was going to see a healer"

Elrond frowned. "Ah, well then, please do explain this to me, first of all, your name?"

The ellon looked tired, Elrond saw that now, and there was a glimpse of pure desperation within his eyes. "I am Hithan, and my wife is Faevriel, we work sewing clothes"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Alright Hithan, then what is the problem with your fair lady?"

Hithan took a deep breath. "We have been married for five years and we have been so very happy the whole time, but now she is pregnant and she has changed, a lot!"

Elrond leaned forth, this could be anything really. "Changed?"

Hithan nodded. "Yes, and not for the better for sure. She was so happy at first, we both were and things did look good but then she started to get nervous and now she is terrified of absolutely everything. I am afraid she may harm herself for she refuses to eat and she keeps claiming that almost everything is harmful to the baby or her. It is her friends, they sort of scare her and she is so naïve and believe everything they say!"

Elrond stared at the young ellon."Does she not have family who can support her and keep her from being told such nonsense?"

Hithan shook his head. "Her parents live far to the south of here and she has one sister but she has moved to the north with her husband and there are no other relatives of her here on these shores. Her friends are all she has and they all keep making her more and more anxious"

Elrond tried to think, it didn't have to be that bad but he needed details more than anything else. "So, what exactly is she doing? I need to know as much as possible"

Hithan swallowed. "She does refuse to leave the house, and she wears gloves all the time, and these terrible thick dresses too. And she won't drink anything except goats milk and the only food she accept is lembas bread and eggs. But that is not the worst part of it…"

Elrond was a bit aghast, milk and lembas and eggs? It was nothing harmful about that but just those three things? She had to eat some fresh vegetables too, and perhaps some fish too. "So what is worse than this extremely boring diet?"

Hithan looked down. "She is scared witless, she is so afraid of the birth itself she refuse to even mention it. I don't know who it was who scared her thus but it has to have been one of those geese she calls her friends. They keep feeding her horror stories and she believes them all."

Elrond bit his lower lip, he had heard of such things happening before, and he had in fact also encountered some females who had been so terrified things went wrong when their babies were due. It had been human women but he didn't doubt that also an elleth could become so nervous she could cause herself harm. But how was he to deal with this? "She doesn't want a healers help?"

Hithan shook his head. "Nope. Her friends have convinced her that healers are no good, and that only prayers and certain rituals can help"

Elrond frowned. "Rituals?"

The young ellon nodded. "Yes, rituals. Like just drinking water while bathing in a pool made with water gathered from morning dew, or walking around the house for four hours clockwise and other idiotic things."

Elrond rolled his eyes, he already knew that his presence would be less than welcome, in fact he could inadvertently make things much worse. He tried to think again. "You said the two of you do sew? You are tailors?"

Hithan nodded slowly: "Yes, we are."

Elrond rubbed his hands together. "Excellent, your wife is about to get a new customer, namely my own fair wife. If anyone can make your wife think twice about this madness it is her. How far along is your wife?"

Hithan tried to smile. "She has little less than a month left, or so we think"

Elrond got up. "No time to waste then, if we are to convince the mother to be of her errors."

He grasped his cloak. "Give me your address, and my wife will come to you soon, looking for someone to sew her a new gown. Act as if we have never met before"

Hithan smiled, a real smile. "Thank you my lord, I am most grateful!"

Elrond was just grateful that this was a case he could surrender to his fair lady, Celebrian was indeed her mother's daughter and able to make people see the errors of their ways without them even realizing it. Yes, he would go to her right away and hopefully it would be solved soon. He was eager when he almost ran back to their house, Celebrian was in the garden and she saw him come through the gate and smiled, embraced him and almost pulled him with her to the hammock which was placed in the cool shade. "My poor darling, you look terrible"

Elrond had to grin, she always spoke her mind and she almost pushed a huge cup of cold juice into his hands. "Celebrian dear, I have a challenge for you"

She sat down and frowned. "A challenge?"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, just before I left the hospital a young ellon came to us for help, his wife is pregnant and she is going insane, or so he thinks at least. Apparently she has been told all these horror stories and now she is so afraid of everything."

Celebrian stared at him with huge eyes. "Oh, I have heard of such cases, why do you think I can help?"

Elrond changed his position slightly. "Because you have common sense and you are very maternal, the young elleth in question doesn't have any other females to rely on than a few friends her husband refer to as "geese" so I don't think they will be able to tell her anything useful at all."

Celebrian frowned. "Sounds bad, but will this young lady accept advice from a stranger?"

Elrond made a triumphant grin. "Oh my dear, believe me when I say that she will listen to you. She is a seamstress and you are going there to buy a new dress and if I know you right, and I do, you will charm your way into her heart rather fast"

Celebrian blushed slightly. "Oh, I will try, but I cannot make any promises at all. But a new dress would be welcome, I have some very nice fabric and it would not look all that odd if I contacted her, if she is any good that is?"

Elrond tilted his head. "She is supposedly very good, I asked one of my assistants and he told me all the ladies of the villages around here go to her for their special dresses."

Celebrian smiled and got a determined look upon her fair face, Elrond grinned to himself, he knew that expression. She would not back away from this now, but do her very best. "Right, one of my own friends have just recommended her and I have a party in a few weeks and for that I need something special, something the seamstresses of this city are unable to achieve!"

Elrond nodded. "Exactly, and there is no time to waste."

Celebrian got up and kissed his brow. "Yes dear, I will go and prepare this very moment."

Elrond remained where he was, now he felt his fatigue again but he knew that this case was in safe hands, Celebrian was both clever and experienced and she would know exactly what to say to make this young elleth realize that she was being hysterical and silly.

Celebrian was in fact a bit proud, it wasn't that often than Elrond did ask her for her help and this was her chance to show her skills with people. She changed into a suitable riding suit and found the rolls of cloth and lace she needed for the dress. Then she put the whole thing into the saddle bags and her servants brought her one of the best horses they had, a tall cream coloured mare with a docile temper and a very steady gait. She gave some orders to the cook so that Elrond would receive the best possible care while she was away and then she rode off. She had gotten the address and she was feeling a bit giddy. It would be wonderful to see what she could achieve and she felt genuinely sorry for the young elleth and her husband. It is easy to become confused and scared when you never receive proper information.

The ride was fairly long and she had to take some breaks. It was late when she reached the village and she found an inn where she stayed the night. She didn't want to burden the couple with a sudden visitor like that. She knew that her clothes and the horse told everybody that she was a noble lady and sometimes it was a smart move to use that fact. It was less likely that someone would protest against the things she suggested when they knew she wasn't just anybody.

She left the inn in the morning and put the horse in a local stable before she went for a walk through the village, it wasn't all that large but it was a lovely place and very Sindarin in its architecture. There were trees and flowers everywhere and it was cozy and charming in a very intimate manner. She found the address easily and put on her most friendly expression before she knocked on the door. A young ellon she immediately realized was the husband opened and Celebrian bowed her head. "Are you the tailors so many speak so highly about?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am Hithan and we do sew yes"

Celebrian smiled. "I am coming here because my own seamstress is so terribly busy and I have a party coming up and plans for a dress but I have no chance of getting it ready on my own. A friend of mine recommended you"

Hithan let her inn and Celebrian gave him her name and he bowed his head in respect. "It is an honour having you here my lady"

Celebrian just waved a hand. "Ah, that is nothing, I just need this dress you see, and I am a klutz with needle and thread."

Hithan was leading the way to the back of the house where a room was turned into a sewing room and Celebrian immediately saw the young elleth this was all about. She had to pretend to be sneezing to hide her shock, Faevriel was a terrible sight. The elleth was very pretty with thick golden hair and a very elegant shape but now the hair was matted and looked like straw and her eyes were sunken and dark. The skin was greyish and pale and she was shivering, and Celebrian could have sworn she could count every bone in her body. The stomach looked almost grotesque on her, a huge bulge which told Celebrian that the elleth indeed only had some weeks left of the pregnancy. Things needed to change, fast!

Faevriel stared with huge eyes at the lady who stood there and Hithan smiled nervously. "This is the lady Celebrian, she needs help with a dress"

Faevriel gaped, then she tried to get up to curtsey but was too weak and Celebrian waved her hand at her. "No no dear, remain seated, I can see that you are in blessed circumstances so no need to get up for me"

Hithan looked nervous still. " Could I offer you some refreshments? Tea?"

Celebrian nodded. "Yes please, it would be very nice indeed."

Hithan almost ran out of the room and Celebrian opened her bag and pulled out a drawing of the dress she wanted, she smiled at Faevriel. "Here, it is a dress for a rather grand party and since my seamstress is so busy I thought of you two. A friend of mine did recommend you and I hope you can do it?"

Faevriel swallowed and stared at the drawing, it was an exquisite dress and she had never sewn something that pretty before. "Ah, we can try, when does it have to be ready?"

Celebrian smiled again, a very relaxed smile. "In two weeks, can you do that?"

Faevriel nodded and stared at the sheet of paper, she was already thinking about how this dress was to be put together. Celebrian showed her the fabrics and the lace and the ribbons which were to be sewn onto the dress and Favriel did look very eager all of a sudden. Sewing a dress for a high born lady would most certainly open a lot of doors for her and if the party was a success there could be many more dresses ordered. Celebrian leaned back into the chair and tried to look as if she really only was there for the dress. "You are rather far along? Are you sure it won't be too much work for you dear?"

She used her most gentle and maternal voice and Faevriel smiled, she looked a bit bothered. "It won't be a problem, I promise"

Celebrian still smiled and tried to look as if she was just making small talk. "Oh I can remember how I felt when I was this far along, everything became a drag really. I had a pair of twins you see, and felt like a hippo, my husband referred to me as the "moving behemoth" He thought he was so funny!"

Faevriel blinked, she looked a bit curious. "You have children? And twins?!"

Celebrian nodded. "Yes, two boys and later I had a daughter. From your bump I would guess that you are rather close to your due date?"

Faevriel swallowed, she sort of twitched. "Uh, yes. Ah, I guess so"

Celebrian frowned. "You guess? Don't you know the begetting day? You must prepare dear, and have the midwife nearby"

Faevriel looked bothered . "Uh, I don't have a midwife, my friends say that midwives are useless, they only make the birth take longer time"

Celebrian sighed. "Dear, I have given birth twice, and believe me, without the midwife things could have looked grim when I had the twins. How many children does these friends of yours have?"

Faevriel went a bit red. "Uh, none, they aren't even married"

Celebrian shook her head. "And you take their advice and believe in all they say as if it was Eru himself speaking? Young one, what else have they told you?"

Faevriel hesitated but the gentle blue eyes of this lady sort of compelled her to tell everything. She wanted to trust in someone with experience and Celebrian looked so much like a very caring and warm person, someone who wouldn't judge her for her choices. "That I shouldn't put on weight for then the baby will be big and it will be even more horrible."

Celebrian looked at the young elleth, she was gaunt, no, almost skeletal. "Dear one, you are close to starving yourself to death, it isn't good for you nor the baby. You will not have the strength to give birth when the day arrives. What are you eating?"

Faevriel stared at her bump, her eyes rather dark. "Uh, a cup of goats milk a day, and four spoons of lembas and an egg"

Celebrian tried her best not to explode. "And who gave you the idea to this horrible diet? That person will be responsible if you or the baby doesn't make it, you are way too thin elleth, you ought to eat like your husband and believe me, these last weeks you will have to change your ways if you want to survive"

Faevriel gaped. "Survive? But…They say that a small baby makes it easier, and I am so scared! I don't want to look like a sack of turnips afterwards, they say I will get fat and wrinkly and that Hithan will be disgusted by me!"

Faevriel was close to tears and Celebrian got up and with a firm expression on her face she pulled her skirts up and revealed her own stomach to the flabbergasted elleth. "See? I have born three children, do I look like a sack of turnips? Are my breasts saggy? My stomach wrinkled?"

Faevriel squeaked, she had never seen a high born lady strip like that before and the skin revealed was as smooth and even as a maidens. "N…no!"

Celebrian got her clothes back in order. "See? We are elves damn it, our bodies does repair themselves. Were you an adeneth this things could happen but you are safe. I think those friends of yours have done something rather terrible to you. They have ruined a most wonderful experience and turned it into a horror story"

Faevriel was shaking. "But they say it is gonna be absolutely horrible, that the pain is unbearable and that a big baby will make me tear apart. They say that I shouldn't be out in the sun for then the baby will be born blind, and that I must wear wool unless I wish to become bloated"

Celebrian just gaped. "Sweetheart, that is the most terrible mumbo jumbo I have ever heard and believe me, I have heard a lot! Forget it, all of it. Dear, you and the baby are both in jeopardy, you need to eat! And drink! And most of all quit believing all those terrible tales, they are just lies!"

Faevriel sobbed. "But they are my friends, what am I to say to them?"

Celebrian walked over and embraced her. "You tell them that they shouldn't tell such stupid lies to someone who is expecting. It is a crime, you should have had your mother here or a sister or at least someone who has given birth before. And yes, a midwife too."

Faevriel gasped and tears were flowing down her face. "I am just so frightened, it is so much, I never expected it to be thus! I wanted an elfling so badly and now I am terrified that I will do something wrong and ….."

She broke down into bawling and Celebrian embraced her tightly in her arms, rocking her. "There there, now, listen to me young one. I will make a list of things you need to eat from now on, starting today. And you are to go for a small walk every day to get fresh air and no more talk about getting fat. I will make sure you get a good midwife and I will personally stay here and take the place your mother have been prevented from taking. You are a good person Faevriel, I can tell that. You are just naïve and innocent and that is never a sin but it can be a weak spot and those stupid geese have exploited you to spread sheer poison! It is not right!"

Faevriel sobbed and Celebrian felt that the poor thing was shivering with sheer fatigue, she couldn't have lasted that much longer, it would have ended in a miscarriage and this far into the pregnancy that was almost always fatal, the body wouldn't prepare in the right manner and the injuries would be too great.

Hithan entered with a can of tea and stared at his weeping wife and the stern faced lady with huge eyes. Celebrian turned her head and smiled gently. "Please get me some paper and a pen, your wife is of here and now on a new diet, one way more healthy than the old one!"

Celebrian started writing and she put up a very detailed plan, Faevriel was to eat every second hour and the list included everything from liver and marrow to vegetables and ale. Celebrian rented a room at a neighbour's house and for the next days she was very busy indeed. She sent for the best midwife from Tirion and she also banned Faevriel from working. She needed to gather her strength and slowly she managed to convince the young elleth of the truth, these friends of hers had been stuffing her head with bullshit and all of it was to be forgotten. Celebrian was like a mother to Faevriel now, made sure that everything was prepared and Hithan was beside himself with gratitude, nothing he had said had managed to change his wife's ideas and Celebrian gathered Faevriel's friends one evening for a tea party and there and then she told them exactly what she was thinking about that sort of behaviour. All left in tears and they had to swear to never do something like this again.

Celebrian saw that these were young and spoiled ellith who had been way too protected by their parents and they knew naught of the things they really ought to have learned so she sat them all down and had a sort of mother to daughter conversation with each and every one of them. At least a few of them did see the light and they realized what they had done to poor Faevriel. Faevriel did eat everything on the list and put on weight again and she did soon look much healthier and she wasn t a nervous wreck anymore. But she was still terrified of the birth and Celebrian had the midwife come over to live with the couple the last week before the due date. That way Faevriel got used to the elleth and would be less nervous around her. She even called for Elrond to be on stand by if something did go wrong and he stayed at the inn and was given daily reports.

Celebrian was doing her best to prepare the young elleth, she told about her own experiences in graphic detail and had Faevriel blushing like a beet on several occasions. Faevriel hadn't let Hithan touch her at all for several months and that too was something the friends were responsible for, now he was welcome back into their shared bed and he was very happy indeed.

The couple got closer than they had been in a long time and never strayed far apart and Celebrian was very charmed by the care and love Hithan showed his wife. She was his little songbird and Celebrian had to admit that Faevriel in fact did have a beautiful voice. They would sit and listen to her every evening and Faevriel started to look forward to meeting their elfling now. She was more relaxed and way stronger and the midwife was optimistic.

The birth started early one morning, Faevriel and Celebrian had been out for a walk the evening before and now the young elleth did look rather normal, the huge amounts of food had had their effect and Celebrian was very relieved that her protégé hadn't protested more than she had. Celebrian was awakened by Hithan and he was pale as a sheet of paper and shaking all over. Faevriel was gently brought over to the bath and placed in the pool and Hithan was shoved out of the door. Celebrian knew that Faevriel wasn't out of the woods yet, she was still nervous and rather fragile so no males present, that was for sure. She needed to be calm and let her body do the job.

At first Faevriel was very calm indeed and she reacted in the right manner too, she followed the instructions and the midwife did praise her a lot. Then it got harder and now Celebrian saw that the meek and somewhat demure elleth in fact was a lioness at heart. She was roaring! And shouting curses and accusations so foul the midwife looked shocked and that did take a lot. She swore she would geld her husband if he ever laid hands on her again, she was tearing at the thin tunic covering her upper body and swearing that this was the last time she ever would allow something this horrible to happen to her again. Her husband was a bastard, a devil and a spawn of Morgoth.

Celebrian had never believed that Faevriel had such strong lungs, she could be heard over half of the village and Elrond had gotten over and sat in the living room with a shaking Hithan and he had heard the bellows of dying trolls but this was even worse. That songbird had a horrible mouth and Elrond cringed more than once. Hithan was close to a nervous breakdown and he was weeping. "Oh my sweet beautiful love, what have I done to her?!"

Elrond patted his back. "What every red blooded male would, believe me, it will soon be forgotten!"

Hithan didn't look as if he believed a single word of what Elrond was saying. They heard Faevriel shout once again. "AAAAghhh, Ooooowwww, I swear by Eru….Ghaaaaa! I will chop…..Oooowwww….his ghweth off!"

Hithan cringed and Elrond just grinned. "Take it easy, Celebrian swore to me that she would do the same thing to me but she never mentioned it again whence the boys were born. And when Arwen was born she wanted to banish me to the void! But that too was forgotten soon enough"

Hithan just cringed again and Elrond wondered if they had something there which could be used as earplugs for right now Faevriel sounded like a dying fellbeast. She was indeed a screamer and several times Elrond almost wondered if there were nazgul present in the birthing room. The shrieks did resemble their voices so much it was rather uncanny. But finally the bellows and shrieks were replaced by a healthy howl from a newborn and after a short time Hithan was allowed in. The elfling was washed and wrapped and Faevriel was beaming with pride but very tired. She had been weak still and thus it had taken way longer than it ought to but both were fine now and the baby was a very lovely little ellon with his father's dark hair and his mother's green eyes. Hithan wept and was beside himself with joy and Faevriel couldn't stop staring at her newborn son. "Oh look Hithan, look at what we made! Isn't he gorgeous? He is the prettiest elfling ever, oh meleth, I want more, I want at least twelve!"

Elrond had to leave the room not to burst into very improper laughter and Celebrian turned red as a beet and had to pretend as if she was busy folding sheets. The threats were forgotten, no doubt about that. The midwife agreed to stay there for a few weeks until the new mother got used to the baby and Celebrian felt sorry when she left the household. She hugged Faevriel and Hithan goodbye and promised to return often and Elrond was very pleased with the outcome of this case.

Celebrian had really proved herself and from now on he would leave such problems to her. It was a task she accepted gracefully and she never failed to tell other young females to never listen to the advice of others with no experience in such matters.

Faevriel and Hithan started having a new elfling every fourth year with frightening regularity and for a while it looked as if they were about to put the legendary fecundity of Fëanor to shame. They had six elflings, two ellin and four ellith when they stopped and Celebrian learned that they had wanted more but for some reason Faevriel just didn't conceive again even though they tried as hard as they could. The neighbours were glad though, the constant trying meant that half of the village yet again could enjoy the full power and volume of Faevriel's lungs and when the couple sort of gave up the noise became a bit less frequent but no less loud.

Celebrian kept sending begetting day presents to all of the elflings and she and Faevriel did become good friends and as the elleth matured and became an experienced and calm mother she started training as a midwife and had great success too. Elrond even had to ask for her help every now and then but they never told her that Hithan had come to him asking for help, some secrets ought to remain the way that they were.


	11. Truth be told

Chapter 11: Truth be told…

Elrond couldn't believe it, the situation was a nightmare and he was for the first time in centuries not sure of what to do. He just hadn't the equipment he needed, he was standing there in a torrent of raging water and it was pouring down as if all the floodgates of heaven had decided to open up right there and now. The narrow gorge was transformed into a river and he had only himself and that useless excuse for an ellon who even now tried to deny that they had a severe problem. The cries of the wounded still could be heard over the rush of the water and he was facing the worst dilemma a healer can meet, who to save and who to abandon. He just stared, in all of his experience he had never encountered something quite like this and the person standing next to him was the cause of some it, if glances were blades the elf would have dropped as dead as a dodo by now.

It had all started a few days earlier and he had no clue about the mayhem he was heading into when he and Celebrian arrived at the home of one of her close friends. The elleth lived in a small town to the south of Tirion and she was a very sweet person who had married an ellon who was making a living breeding and selling horses. Amrynniel had been a friend of Celebrian for a long time since she too had been living in the gardens of Lorien for a while and the two females had bonded rather tightly back then. Now Amrynniel was pregnant with her first child and ecstatic with joy since she and her husband had been trying for centuries without any luck. Their mansion was a beautiful one placed on a gently sloping hill surrounded by vineyards and pastures and Elrond had loved the place the moment he laid eyes on it. It did remind him a bit of Gondor and thus also of his lost daughter. Celebrian was overjoyed since Elrond had agreed on visiting her friend and they were given the grand tour of the place as soon as they had rested and had something to eat. The journey from their home had been rather long and although the roads were good and the carriage comfortable it was tiresome still the same.

The stables were the pride and joy of Amrynniel's husband Ivran, and it was easy to see why. They were huge and beautiful with large boxes and the stable workers made sure that there wasn't even a speck of dust to be seen, it didn't even smell like a stable. The horses made Elrond gasp in wonder, Ivran was breeding a very valuable bloodline which included Fingolfin's famous steed Rochallor and Glorfindel's Asfaloth and that was easy to see. All the horses they saw were huge and sleek and gorgeous and watched them with soft dark eyes filled with trust. These horses had never faced anything but gentleness and respect and trusted the elves completely. Elrond didn't have need for a horse really but he sort of fell in love with a dark grey yearling colt with white mane and tail and Ivran promised that he could come and visit and see what he thought of the colt when he was old enough to be trained. Elrond suddenly had a boost of enthusiasm and kept chatting with Ivran about the Mearas of the Rohirrim and the great and famous steeds of old.

They walked around the perimeter and Elrond knew why Ivran was so rich, these animals were exquisite and cost a fortune each. Amrynniel let out a small squeal of excitement. "And here is my pride and joy, my own personal favourite"

A huge palomino mare was placed in a box and it was absolutely beautiful with long snow white mane and huge dark eyes. Amrynniel petted the mare on her muzzle and the mare sort of snorted and backed off a bit. Ivran made a grimace and turned to Elrond. "This one is one of the few times I have failed to find the perfect horse for someone, a noble lady from Tirion bought her from me but she sent the mare back a year later, said she couldn't handle it. I have no idea why for Celeblas is a very gentle one"

Elrond frowned, the mare looked as calm as a cucumber and watched them with mild curiosity. "That is odd, did she say what the problem was?"

Ivran shook his head. "No, not a word, except that it had started when she visited her aunt at Alqualondë."

Elrond saw that Amrynniel guided Celebrian's attention towards some lovely saddles placed on a rack outside of the stable. One was made in black and green velvet with golden decorations and Elrond stared at Amrynniel. She had less than two months left of her pregnancy and was rather heavy. "Do not tell me that you still ride in your condition? It is quite risky!"

Amrynniel just giggled. "Oh shush, it is no danger. Celeblas has never thrown anyone and I

have a mounting block and plenty of servants to help me get on or off her. It is okay my lord"

Elrond frowned and Ivran laughed. "Try to deny my wife her daily ride and you will see that it is about as easy as denying the valar anything. She is quite stubborn"

Elrond smiled but felt a bit nervous, why he didn't know. They returned to the house for more pleasant conversation and wine and the day came to an end with a very spectacular sunset. It had been a good day for sure.

The next morning Celebrian got up early, eager to catch up with her friend and the two ellith sat on a bench in the garden, happily chatting away as Elrond a time later joined them. He had enjoyed a long bath and he was stunned to see how many different types of fruits and berries which were grown in the area. It had to be very fertile soil there indeed. Amrynniel sat with her feet on a small bench and Elrond couldn't help but notice that her ankles were a bit swollen. He wasn't her personal healer but felt that he had to draw attention to it. "Are you doing something about that dear?"

Amrynniel grinned. "Yes, I do use some ointment, it just haven't had time to work yet."

Elrond smiled, relieved that she had proper information. "Who gave you that, the local healer?"

Amrynniel giggled. "Heavens no, the midwife gave me all the advice I need. The healer here in this town is useless. Well, most think the world of him but he is a hoax from his boots to his circlet"

Elrond frowned, "What?"

Amrynniel put on a serious face. "I am not lying my lord, he is in fact unable to do anything useful. When I came to him with my bloated ankles he told me to rub them with a juice made from red nettles and Rhagusta root"

Elrond had to stare for a few seconds. Rhagusta root? Not only was that insanely expensive but it was also highly irritating when used on the skin and red nettles? What in the world was this person really thinking? "Tell me, who is this supposed healer and where do he live?"

Amrynniel cocked her head. "He lives in the town, by the square. A huge red building. He has been here for a couple of decades only and I have quit trying to tell my friends he is good for nothing. He is very charming you see, and sometimes people do get well after having been at his place"

Elrond felt a need to roll his eyes. "We are elves my friend, we do heal on our own if it is something not too serious"

He felt a sting of anger and worry. "So, what sort of miseries have he caused?"

Celebrian looked deeply shocked and Elrond sent her a reassuring smile, he wouldn't allow someone like that to continue. Amrynniel took a deep breath. "Oh well, where do I start? He hasn't caused any deaths so far for if he had the valar would have been all over him but it has been close a few times. Had we been mortal he would have been a murderer for sure a long time ago. He wasn't supposed to be a healer in the first place, but a flutist! He just didn't show any talent and found that healing can be lucrative"

Elrond just blinked. "A flutist?! Eru!"

Amrynniel nodded seriously. "He once gave a mother a recipe against diaper rash and it was almost pure salt. And on one occasion he managed to put a broken arm back together in such a manner that the arm was rendered useless for years. The poor ellon who had the misfortune of being his patient had to go to the gardens of Lorien where the arm had to be broken again in order to be normal. I am telling you, the ellon is as stupid as a rock"

Celebrian had been listening with her mouth open. "How can he think he can heal anything?!"

Amrynniel did look very important all of a sudden. "Because he is unable to see the truth about himself, he thinks he is brilliant"

Elrond scoffed and had to hide a rather nasty grin. "So there is where the problem lies, he thinks too much of himself"

Amrynniel nodded sternly. "Beyond doubt, he is from Tirion originally and the people here, well, they are not used to those of high birth, they think they are ignorant and out of line when they think he does some sort of error"

Elrond looked intrigued. "High birth?"

Amrynniel was grinning. "Oh, not really, his father was a servant of king Finwë's son Finarfin for a few years, it is all a fake claim of fame so to speak. He is as common as they get but of course he knows how to dress and speak and act so they think he is some courtier"

Elrond felt a tingling sensation spread all over his scalp, it usually indicated that he was very annoyed. " I think I will give this healer a polite visit today, just to see what you are up against. If this ellon really is so bad then lives are in danger"

Celebrian tried to smile. "Love, I know you are polite and controlled, but just for once, forget about being a lord and leader?"

Elrond frowned. "What are you saying my light?"

Celebrian made a vague gesture. "Polite words and such won't work, he is probably way too stupid to see the truth. No, if you must take the warrior out, you could fight back then, and scare even an orc. "

Elrond had to snicker. "You suggest that I scare him?"

Celebrian nodded eagerly. "Yes, please do! Make him forget everything about being a healer. He sounds as if he would make a much better career as a….maker of pots!"

Elrond laughed. "Well, at least they cannot complain"

Ivran had entered and he made a grimace. "I know of this person, I once sent a stable worker to him with an infected boil, one of the horses had bitten the poor lad and the bite got infected. He was told to put clay on the wound, and then treat it with a paste made from crushed flies"

Elrond almost choked. " That is it, I have heard enough, the fellow cannot know anything about healing at all!"

Ivran nodded. "He doesn't, one of my stable workers have come to blows with him once and it didn't change anything."

Elrond frowned. "Came to blows with?"

Ivran nodded. "Yes, you see this ellon and his wife are re-embodied elves, they both were slaves in Angband and due to that, well, let's just say that there is no intimacy happening between them. They love each other and all that but past memories…. Ithilion came to this so called healer to ask for help fighting nightmares and was downright laughed at. He smacked the ellon over the jaw and caused him to pass out. I think he did the right thing"

Elrond had heard of such cases, they were all tragic. Sometimes not even Namo could completely heal the spirits which entered his realm and to some re-embodiment was the only option, even when they were hurting still. "That is so sad, I have met many like that"

Ivran made a grimace. "They do love children, so they have adopted some who have been re-embodied as elflings without memories of any sort."

Celebrian smiled. "That is very generous of them, how very kind"

Ivran nodded. "Ithilion is a very good ellon, strong and gentle and Avriel is a terrific mother, she loves her little ones to death. Too bad they are having some troubles these days"

Celebrian frowned. "Troubles?"

Ivran looked down, he was a bit reluctant to tell of this but he felt that he had to. "They have three elflings, the youngest one is only a year old and the two others are ten and twelve. Good kids, very smart and with great futures ahead of them but they doesn't look anything like their parents and well, some people just cannot help but being mean"

Elrond swallowed, that was an almost universal phenomenon. "Gossip right?"

Ivran turned his head. "Yes, nasty gossip too. They claim that Avriel has had lovers, or that Ithilion is infertile. They ignore it as best as they can but the kids are the ones who suffer the most, after all, they are too young to know the truth."

Elrond felt anger boiling up inside of him, this was bad! He would have to take care of this but first things first. He had to deal with the fake healer before he could start helping this poor family. "I thank you for sharing this information Ivran, but now I need to see a certain healer, do you have a horse I can borrow and I do need riding boots and a pair of good pants too"

Ivran stared at him. "You are approximately my size so that will be no problem and you can borrow my own stallion, if you are to impress that little shite into submission you have got to do it thoroughly!"

A little while later Elrond rode out of the front gate on a horse which had to be the best he had ever ridden, a giant chestnut with a proudly arched neck and powerful legs. He would make it to town in now time and he felt anger seething within. This sorry excuse for an elf would most certainly not be allowed to continue endangering the health and wellbeing of others. The red building was visible from afar and Elrond rode towards it at a brisk pace. He stopped the horse in front of the gate and tied it to a hook there. He felt cold and determined and straightened his back, tried to look exactly the way a descendant of both Finwë and Elu Thingol was supposed to look. He wore a very expensive riding suit and Celebrian had forced him into wearing a very regal looking and completely ridiculous circlet he hated but now it just helped complete the image of a high lord. The gate was open and he walked in, he almost collided with a small elleth holding something in her arms. Was that cabbages and tree bark?!

Elrond bowed his head. "Pardon me my lady but what is that?"

The elleth bowed her head. "Oh it is the healers cure against these cramps I have got, I work as a weaver and sometimes the back of my upper arms gets sore, the loom is rather heavy."

Elrond managed to stay calm, but it did cost him a lot. "Sweet one, it is a good remedy yes, but I think you will get well faster with peppermint oil, and rest"

The elleth frowned. "But Taeral said that…"

Elrond interrupted her. "I bet he haven't heard of this use of peppermint, I am here to…update his knowledge"

The elleth smiled. "Oh, that is nice. My niece had to sit for two days with a cloth drenched in vinegar up her…secret place…to get rid of a yeast infection"

Elrond almost reared back, oh the pain that poor thing must have felt! "Believe me, things like that will not happen again."

The elleth looked a bit in doubt but she just curtsied and scurried out of the gate and Elrond filled his lungs with air. He had a sinister gleam in his eyes, the one who would have sent Lindir and Erestor seeking cover back in Imladris. He was angry, and still he tried to remain cool. He had a plan now, he wanted to let the culprit reveal his lack of knowledge personally before he did anything to stop the moron. He found the door to the office and saw nobody there but as he was about to knock a small somewhat bent ellon appeared behind a corner, he was waving a finger in an odd manner and Elrond frowned. The ellon whispered. "Pssst. Hey, you, yes you, get over here!"

Elrond walked over to the corner and the smaller elf looked at him with a pleading expression within his eyes. "Whatever you do, don't let yourself be treated by my master, it may be the last thing you do on this side of the halls!"

Elrond stared at the elf, he was wearing rather good clothes and appeared to be healthy, although a bit slumped. "Ah? You are his….?"

The elf smiled. "Servant, believe me, my master isn't capable of curing hiccups. He is as incompetent at this as an orc would be at singing arias."

Elrond scoffed. "You show little loyalty towards your master, nor any faith?"

The elf nodded. "Because I have none! He is a moron, I serve him because I am unable to do hard work, got injured during the war of wrath and I have never healed fully. He thinks he can fix me but to be honest I think I would have been better off with the orcs than his medicine. I tried to get this job but he knows important people and since he needed an assistant I applied for that job instead."

Elrond felt stunned. "So what do you do here then?"

The elf smiled crookedly. "I try to help his patients by sending them home, unfortunately I cannot always be here and warn them so some do slip by me"

Elrond tilted his head. "What is your name my friend, and you are doing an admirable thing, but haven't he understood what it is that you are doing?"

The elf bowed his head. "I am known as Othorion and I used to be a field surgeon before the orcs got me. That is why I know Taeral is nothing but a fraud"

Elrond blinked. "A field surgeon? Then you have skills my friend, have you tried to show your master the errors of his ways?"

Othorion nodded, his face rather glum. "Oh, countless times, but he listens to nobody but himself, and he is always convinced that he ought to be famous and admired and all that nonsense. But please, do tell me your name my lord and why have you come to this forsaken place?"

Elrond did tell who he was and Othorion's eyes got huge. "Oh Eru, you are…..oh valar bless us all, are you going to put an end to this…madness?"

Elrond nodded. "I am, so please do help me. He isn't to know the real reason I am here, not yet. I wish for him to receive me as a colleague, just paying a polite visit while in town. I want him to reveal his shortcomings so I can witness them myself"

Othorion was almost jumping with glee. " Oh blessed be this day, Eru be praised, I will go and announce your arrival, follow me to the front room"

Elrond followed the hunched ellon to a rather gaudy looking room which was so over decorated it was hard to know where to look, Othorion disappeared and Elrond had to sigh. It was obvious that the servant was the one with true knowledge here, and fate had played a cruel trick on him. Maybe that could change?

Before long the door opened again and a tall ellon with long black hair and grey eyes entered, he wore a very expensive blue silk robe and lots of jewellery and he did look as if he had money growing on trees somewhere. He was undoubtedly a noldo and Elrond managed to keep up a haughty and yet benign appearance. After all, he wasn't going to reveal his true intents just yet. Taeral bowed his head and Elrond nodded, indicating that he was the one with the highest status here. "Elrond, what an honour, I had never expected to see you in this place. You have truly been an inspiration to me for many decades."

Normally Elrond would be flattered and a little moved by that but now he just sent the other elf the most fake grin he had ever produced and managed to stay calm. "I am in town with my wife, she has a friend nearby and I heard of another healer and found that I wanted to meet someone else of my profession rather than sit and chat with the ellith"

Taeral grinned and Elrond felt a chill run down his back, Eru, the elf was smoother than an eel in a sack of butter. "Oh now don't we all? Please do tell, what made you aware of my little clinic?"

Elrond wouldn't have called this a clinic, more of a last resort but he smiled and held his chin up. "Oh I just heard some servants say there was a healer in town. Do you have many patients here?"

Taeral tilted his head and his smile got wider. "Not that many but interesting enough, they do provide me with the means to a living at least!"

Elrond felt a need to roll his eyes, was this all for the money? What a scumbag! Taeral almost grasped him by the arm. "Come, come, do allow me to show you my humble little abode"

Elrond sighed and allowed the elf to pull him with him through the door, he was sure he wasn't going to like this even a tiny bit.

Celebrian and Amrynniel was enjoying each other's company, sharing some gossip and having fun and Ivran had returned to the stables. One of the mares was due to give birth soon and he didn't want to miss it. Outside the clouds had grown thick and it had gotten dark, Celebrian frowned. "Looks as if it is gonna rain?"

Amrynniel nodded. "Yes, it is dry now so that would be great, as long as it doesn't rain too hard. "

The two moved back in under a roof and some servants came to bring them tea and some cookies. Before long a veritable deluge started and Celebrian made a grimace. "Oh no, I bet Elrond will be drenched, I hope it will stop before he returns"

Amrynniel agreed and they returned to the house. It was very open and airy and yet warm and the library there was impressive. Celebrian knew that Elrond would love to take a look at it and Erestor would be drooling if she told him about this. Amrynniel was fond of knowledge of all sorts and thus she wanted to collect rare books and preserve them. They sat there discussing a book about the cooking and preservation of beans which Amrynniel had bought when there was a knock on the door. A servant entered. "My lady, Avriel is here, she is distraught"

Amrynniel looked worried. "Distraught? Why? Send her inn!"

Before long a pretty and rather small elleth with lovely mahogany hair ran into the room, she was drenched and her dress covered in mud. Amrynniel gasped. "Avriel dear, what has happened?!"

The elleth sobbed. "It is Iolroth and Neldor, they are missing! I have looked everywhere and I cannot find them. Ivran is busy for Goldmoon is foaling right now and the servants have to work at the gardens, they fear the rain will wash everything away."

Amrynniel got her feet down. "Missing? What has happened?"

Avriel sobbed. "Oh it was that darn Langorion again, that kid ought to be spanked! He outright told them that we weren't their real parents but had stolen them!"

Celebrian gaped. "What? That is….terrible!"

Avriel nodded. "Iolroth have been bullied a lot lately since he is blonde and Neldor isn't stupid, he knows something is off. We were going to tell them some day but not like this"

Amrynniel shook her head. "Oh Langorion is a reborn orc for sure, that kid has no manners whatsoever. You have looked everywhere?"

Avriel sobbed. "Yes, they cannot be here at the farm."

Amrynniel tried to think fast. "Right, when did they go missing?"

Avriel looked as if she was about to pass out. " After breakfast I think, I was busy washing so I didn't notice them sneaking out. Langorion told them just before the meal"

Celebrian frowned. "Who is that kid really?"

Amrynniel answered. "The smith's son. The parents are unable to discipline him and he acts like he has no respect for anything. I am sure he used to be an orc, there is no other explanation"

Avriel sobbed again, she looked terribly scared. "I have no idea of where they can be, it has been hours my lady, they can be anywhere!"

Amrynniel frowned and she bit her lower lip. "They cannot have gotten very far? They are on foot, and the rain has most certainly made them seek cover somewhere"

Avriel looked as if she was about to drop down onto her knees any moment. "Oh I pray you are right my lady"

Amrynniel was thinking hard. "Listen, I remember that Iolroth once told me of a cave they had found while they were exploring the woods, it isn't that far from here, and I bet they would go there."

Avriel sniffed. "They just left a note my lady, nothing more. They were going to seek their real parents"

Amrynniel scoffed. "You are their real parents, don't let anyone convince you of anything else. Celebrian, come, I know where the cave is"

Celebrian got up. "Can't you send someone? It is pouring!"

Amrynniel shook her head. "No, only I know the shortest way. Fast, hurry. Put on a cloak and a riding dress, we need to go now!"

Avriel was gasping. "My lady, I do not think I can ride fast, I have only ridden ponies!"

Amrynniel smiled. "Worry not, prepare for our return instead. Get some warm blankets ready, and hot baths and food. I bet the kids will be drenched and cold and don't worry, we will bring them back"

Celebrian stared at Amrynniel. "Dear, don't tell me you are going to ride now?! In this weather and your condition?"

Amrynniel tilted her head, there was a stern expression within her eyes. "Of course I am Cel, I am no fragile flower remember?"

Celebrian just sighed and hurried off. Before long she returned to the stable, a servant had saddled Celeblas and held a smaller brown gelding by the reins. Amrynniel petted the horse gently. "This is Vanaroch, he is a very gentle one"

The servant looked nervous. "My lady, the weather is terrible, is this really a good idea?"

Amrynniel got a pair of riding gloves on and smiled. "Don't be silly, we have to find those kids before night falls, and I know where the cave is. Celeblas will keep me safe, worry not"

The golden mare rubbed her nose against her mistress and Amrynniel used the mounting block to get up into the saddle, she rode sideways but Celebrian sat astride. Amrynniel let the mare race out of the stable and the rain hit them like a heavy shower, the cloaks they wore had been treated and were water proof but Celebrian knew they would be wet anyhow. The horses did gallop down the road and the mud was flying from the hooves. Before they reached the plain Amrynniel did take off on a small path leading towards a huge groove of trees and Celebrian followed. The forest was dark and rain was dripping and even an elf would find the place a bit sinister now. The wind did make the trees creak and groan and the deluge didn't seem to stop at all.

Amrynniel did lead the mare with steady hands and even if the road was very slippery the horse never did lose her footing. The small forest had grown up around an area with very steep terrain, centred around a gorge. A narrow little river did fill the bottom but now it was rising by the hour and Amrynniel did look a bit worried. "The cave is at the bottom of this gorge, right where it starts. Oh I hope they are there, and that they are okay"

Celebrian did regret that she hadn't made servant ride to town to tell her husband of this, she had a bad feeling. They reached the start of the gorge and she could barely see the entrance to the cave in the darkness. She took a deep breath and crossed her fingers and Amrynniel let out a holler. "Helloooo, anybody there?"

Both ellith let out a sigh of relief when a small face could be seen in the entrance. "Yes, we are here, please, we want to go home!"

Amrynniel smiled. "Of course you do dear, hurry, get back up here before the river gets too large"

Celebrian saw that the river entered the gorge not far from the cave and formed a small waterfall, and it was growing. The two lads became visible, climbing up the steep path on hands and knees since it had become very slippery. Amrynniel reached out to grasp a branch just over her head, it was dripping water onto her and that was when it happened. A bird had been perched on the branch, unseen by them all and now it let out a piercing cry and took off right over Amrynniel's hood, it flew downwards and almost clipped the horse's ears while making some nasty sounds and now they saw why the previous owner of Celeblas had gotten problems while in Alqualondë, the harbours were filled with gulls and other birds and they often flew very close to people, shrieking and cawing. The mare first froze, then she let out a wild whinny and stepped sideways. The ground was terribly loose there and the horse started to slide, it made a desperate attempt at returning to the path but gravity was stronger and the mare fell onto her side, sliding down towards the river. Amrynniel screamed, her foot was caught in the saddle and she followed the kicking and whinnying horse down the steep bank. The two kids didn't manage to get out of the way and was knocked over too, dragged down and into the river. Celebrian just sat there, paralyzed with shock.

Amrynniel managed to get herself free from the saddle but fell over and Celebrian saw that she got hit by a waving hoof, the two kids were screaming with fear and she could see that they had been badly battered by rocks and roots on the way down. And the river was rising, the gorge became a torrent further down and what in Eru's name was she to do?! Amrynniel screamed again, in absolute agony and clutched her belly, the mare was struggling to get back up onto her feet but the reins had gotten tangled into branches and roots and held her back. Celebrian called out. "Amrynniel, pull the kids away from her if you can, quick!"

Amrynniel could barely stand in the strong current and she was in severe pain but she managed to grasp the two elflings and got them behind a rock where the kicking hooves couldn't reach them. "They are hurt!"

The rain made it hard to understand what she was saying but Celebrian hollered back. "How bad is it?"

Amrynniel was pale as a sheet and shivering. "Iolroth had a broken leg, it is nasty. And Neldor has a nasty cut in his arm and I think he has broken a collar bone too"

Celebrian gasped, they were in severe danger and she was just one person. She needed help! Riding back for help would take too long, she closed her eyes and concentrated on her bond with her husband. She was after all Galadriel's daughter and even if she wasn't as used to using mind speech as her mother she was no stranger to it. She gathered all her strength to send a distress message to her beloved, and instructions to where they were!

Elrond felt as if his face had been transformed into plaster or something like that, he had never met a person quite like this ellon, that was for certain. He was completely unable to see that he erred! In fact he was so full of himself that Elrond suspected that he was more than capable of floating away like a hot air balloon if someone took a needle and pricked him. The clinic was a place where Elrond wouldn't have treated even an orc, it was dirty, the instruments old fashioned and some were obviously used the wrong way. And yet Taeral was extremely enthusiastic and overly proud and kept bragging and bragging about his great achievements.

The apothecary was a joke, most of the herbs stored there mouldy and downright dangerous and they often had the wrong label too. He was aghast, no, stunned! The fact that he hadn't grasped this idiot by his collar and strangled him yet was a miracle. Taeral was acting is if he was just as good as Elrond, and he was in fact a bit condescending since Elrond wasn't full blooded. It made the peredhel wish the valar could strike the idiot down there and then. Taeral was showing him a set of surgical instruments with rust and old specks of blood on them and Elrond felt sick, if Morgoth himself had become this ellon's patient he would have tried to get him out of there, no living being deserved this sort of treatment.

Taeral was constantly grinning and mixing shameless flatter with self glorifying stories and Elrond was relieved when they finally made it out of the clinic and back outside. It was raining as if all the floodgates of heaven had opened up and Elrond was preparing to tell the disgusting impostor what he truly felt when a voice screamed into his mind and he saw a horrible scene. "Elrond, help! We are by the river, Amrynniel and the elflings, they are hurt!"

Elrond turned around. "My wife just called for help, quickly, gather equipment and get your servant over here now! We need help"

Taeral did react, at least he did that right. He opened a door and shouted. "Othorion, get here now! Saddle my horse and get my bag ready!"

Elrond was relieved that the servant obviously understood the gravity of the situation and not many minutes did pass by before they were outside of the gates, Othorion riding a small white mare and Taeral on a black gelding. Taeral didn't understand why Elrond wanted Othorion to join them but the healer also shouted to some elves they met along the way to gather as many as possible and get to the gorge now! Elrond knew that Celebrian was unharmed but the panic in her voice did tell him that it was serious still and he rode hard. Luckily the road was good and the others managed to keep up with him and they found the forest area fast. The path into it was muddy and narrow and transformed into a river now and the horses struggled a bit but managed to stay on their feet.

Elrond started shouting as they rode deeper into the woods, he heard the river and suddenly he saw Celebrian sitting on a horse ahead of him. She looked like a cat someone has drowned and she was shaking all over. Elrond saw the gorge and by now the water was transformed from a gentle creek into a full on flash flood. Amrynniel sat on a rock holding onto the two elflings, both were screaming and Elrond could see that she was terribly pale and in obvious distress. He got off the horse and stared at the gorge, they had to get down there in a safe manner and Othorion shouted. "I have rope here, we can use it to anchor ourselves"

Elrond nodded and before long he had managed to create some harnesses and they were slowly descending into the water. It was cold as hell and the current strong and the three wounded were stranded on the rock. Celeblas was standing in the middle of the raging torrent and couldn't get anywhere and Elrond cut the reins. The horse immediately tumbled backwards before she found her footing but she was large and heavy and he had to focus on the three elves first. But which one? Taeral had followed him down as had Othorion and the dark ellon just made a grimace. "It isn't that bad? That kid has got a cut but it will heal and the elleth is just hysterical, they all are"

Elrond was this close to hitting Taeral over the head with a branch and Othorion made a grimace. "The older lad has an open fracture and has lost much blood from what I can see, and he could have more fractures too. The younger one is also a mess"

Elrond tried to smile, Iolroth was almost unconscious and Neldor had passed out. Amrynniel was using all her strength not to let go of them. "Do we have enough rope to haul them all up at once?"

Some other elves had arrived up at the top of the gorge but they didn't have rope and Othorion looked scared. "No, I only had that one roll. We can only take one at a time"

Taeral scoffed. "Tie them together and haul them all up, easy as a pie"

Othorion scowled. "And make the fractures move? Cause even greater agony and possible damage nobody is able to repair?"

Taeral sent his servant a toxic gaze. "Nobody asked for your opinion servant"

Elrond stared at the three, Amrynniel was sweating in spite of the cold water and he knew it was a sign of something being very wrong. "Amrynniel, how do you feel?"

She gasped. "The horse, it kicked me, and hit my stomach, I think I am bleeding"

Taeral waved a hand. "Pish posh, she is exaggerating"

Elrond wondered if drowning someone could be counted as kin slaying? If not he wished someone could tell him, and fast!

But what was he to do now? Celebrian was trying to get the other elves who had arrived organized and Elrond knew that they had to get everybody out of the water as soon as possible, he couldn't do anything to help them in the middle of a rising flood. Amrynniel could have been seriously injured and the two elflings was also in grave danger. The wounds were far from clean and he hadn't even had the chance to evaluate the damage yet. It was too dark and wet. Tareal looked sulky and he hissed. "Just let them climb up, it is no big deal. Kids can easily use some vines or roots to hang onto"

Elrond wondered if the ellon's mom accidentally had dropped him onto his head as a baby, that would explain a lot! But it did give him an idea. He shouted at the elves left on the path above the river. "Find vines and soft branches, you have to weave a sort of basket, and rope, lots of it, and fast. You can use the ropes we have been wearing, we can manage to hold on without them"

He unfastened himself and Othorion but Taeral refused to let go of his rope.

Luckily the ones who had arrived were farmers and servants, they were practical and before long someone up there had taken charge of everything while Celebrian showed them how to form a sturdy sort of basket. The water was rising and Elrond had a hard time staying upright, the water was reaching his waist by now and Taeral was clinging onto a branch. "We have to get back up, this is dangerous"

Elrond almost sneered. "And leave these three? Have you lost your mind?"

Tareal looked a bit shocked but he didn't have time to say anything for Celebrian screamed out loud. "Watch out!"

A tree came crashing down the waterfall and just blind luck and swift reflexes saved them from being hit by it. Elrond just knew it, this gorge would fill with water soon. Amrynniel let out a wail, she clutched her stomach again. Now more elves did arrive and luckily someone had been clever enough to bring rope. Now things was speeding up and some brave Ellyn climbed down and managed to get rope around the horse before they simply dragged it

sideways up onto the path again. Then someone lowered the primitive basket and Elrond was faced with a dilemma. Who was in the worst condition? Who could he send up first? He took a deep breath, waved his hand at Othorion. "We take Amrynniel first, she is the heaviest and I am afraid she may have suffered some internal injury"

Amrynniel shook her head and her eyes were huge and dark. "No, the children first, then me!"

Elrond sighed but he had no time to debate. "Right, Iolroth then, hurry."

Othorion grasped the basket and with a collective effort they managed to haul the lad from the rock and into the basket. The current was terribly strong now. The elfling was pulled up and the basket returned for his brother. He sat further down and Elrond shouted at Taeral who was in a better position to grasp the lad. "Pull him over into the basket, gently"

Taeral looked shocked. "And let go of this branch? No way, I may fall"

Elrond just knew it, before the day was over he would if not become a kinslayer than at least someone pretty darn close. He almost growled but managed to fight his way through the water towards the child and Othorion reached out and got the basket and they got the lad into it. Amrynniel was much heavier and larger and her skirts added extra weight to her too. The basket was primitive and more of a mesh than a real basket, he was afraid it would break apart. As they were loading her into it there was a sudden roaring sound and the water level started to rise fast, Elrond shouted to the elves on top. "Pull, fast!"

They started to haul her up but Taeral let out a small shriek of fear and hung onto the ropes, being dragged up with her. It of course added extra weight to the whole thing and Elrond cursed so bad it was a wonder the water didn't catch fire before he grasped the ellon by his legs and pulled him down into the water again. Taeral got back up, spitting and coughing and Elrond finished the job by knocking him out. He held onto the ellon and wondered of it would be seen as a sin if he let go but he gestured to Othorion. "Tie him up, they will drag him up when she is safe"

The elves managed to get Amrynniel up safely and threw the ropes down again and Elrond made sure that he was the last to be pulled up. He was soaking wet and cold but that didn't matter. Celebrian had made a sort of examination table out of two logs and some cloaks and a couple of Ellyn held some lamps up high. It did create at least some light. Elrond went into healing mode, he examined the oldest elfling first and it was a nasty fracture, just as Othorion had said. But it wasn't immediately life threatening and Othorion now proved to be of invaluable help. He stopped the bleed and fixated the fracture as Elrond checked Neldor. He was worse off, his cut did bleed still, he had many fractures and a collapsed lung too and they were running out of time fast. The healer was sweating, how were they to do this now? Othorion swore and finished wrapping the fracture. "Use a piece of reed to re inflate the lung, put it in between two ribs. A smooth rock can be used to press onto the bleeding until we get back to the clinic"

Elrond just knew it there and then, Othorion knew what he was talking about, he was a real healer and probably a darn good one too. He nodded and did what he was told and now it was Amrynniel who needed attention. They were right, she was bleeding and the unborn elfling was in distress for sure, Elrond could sense it. He was afraid the placenta had come lose and that could be fatal. Celebrian had tried to help the whole time and she was pale. "I sent someone for a carriage the moment others arrived."

Elrond nodded. "Good, perfect, well done"

Amrynniel was gasping and trembling and Elrond did not even bother to look at Taeral who still was out cold. He could drown in the mud for all he cared. But a carriage did arrive, a small one pulled by one horse and it became extremely crowded but that didn't matter now. They managed to turn it around and some of the elves gathered threw Taeral onto a horse and rode after the carriage. Elrond was focused on his patients now, and as they drove into the yard in front of the clinic Othorion jumped from the carriage with a curse. "My master doesn't have much but I have gathered my own little collection of herbs and instruments, follow me"

He ran down into the cellar and the others followed, carrying the injured elflings and Amrynniel. Elrond was shocked, it was a small room but it had everything they could possibly need and before long he was very busy. Celebrian and Othorion were excellent assistants and Elrond was shaky all over with relief. The elflings would recover, they were no longer in immediate danger and the wounds and fractures dealt with. Now Amrynniel was the problem, she was getting more and more pale and as they tried to examine her Ivran and Avriel arrived. Avriel went hysterical with fear and Celebrian had to give her some soothing tea to calm her down and Ivran was beside himself with worry. Elrond realized that he was right, the placenta was about to let to and without it the baby would not get oxygen and die. There was just one solution, a c section. He had done it before but it was extremely risky and required some very specialized material and a lot of rare medicine. To his astonishment Othorion had everything he needed and they sedated the poor elleth and started working.

That was when Taeral woke up, confused and wet and pretty pissed off, he saw the two with blood up to their elbows and then he passed out again, like someone had blown out a candle. Elrond didn't even look at him, he was completely focused on his task. Celebrian was preparing a small basket for the baby and they could only hope that it would be viable, this was too early for it to be born but elflings are tough.

Five minutes later they pulled out a tiny elfling and Elrond massaged its chest gently, they took a deep and collective sigh of relief when it started to breathe and Celebrian washed it and wrapped it while Elrond and Othorion closed the wound and took care of Amrynniel. She was carried off to a better bed to recover and Celebrian took care of the little elleth who had met the world in such a dramatic manner. Ivran had been sitting on the outside of the room and he was crying with relief, Elrond couldn't say he blamed him in any way, even he would have broken down in tears in such a situation.

Elrond was tired, he was elated and high on endorphins and adrenalin and he stared at Othorion who calmly was cleaning instruments and tidying up after the surgeries. He just knew that he was about to take the right decision. "Othorion, from now on you are the healer of this town, I cannot understand why you didn't get that job instead of that…..worm"

Othorion cringed. "I applied, and I also tried to tell the city council the truth about my master but they refused to listen since I am just a commoner. He has sort of convinced them all that only the valar are more important than him"

Elrond almost growled. "Has he now, well, we will see about that!"

He helped the ellon finish the job before he found a servant and wrote a quick letter, it was sent with a fast rider immediately. Then he checked on the two elflings and they seemed to recover, no fever and not too much pain. Now he felt that he was tired and a bit in shock but he couldn't rest just yet. Ivran had returned to the farm to prepare for Amrynniel and the baby's arrival and he came back after a few hours, bringing a very sulky elfling with him. Elrond realized who this was, the instigator of the whole mess!

Ivran grasped the culprit by his ear and dragged him along into the room where the two injured elflings were recovering. "Here, see what your thoughtless blabber has achieved! My son's almost died today, because you cannot hold that forked tongue of yours behind those rotten teeth!"

Langorion hissed with pain but he looked a bit shocked and Elrond walked over, looking every bit like a noldorin lord and a descendant of kings. "So this is the little vermin who told such venomous lies?"

Langorion wailed. "It isn't a lie, everybody can see that Ivran isn't their dad!"

Elrond bent over and stared him straight in the face. "Listen you little piece of orc dung. It matters not who gave birth to you or sired you, what matters is who loves you the most. That determines who your parents are, nothing else!"

The elfling was still sulky and Elrond smiled, a smile which didn't bode anything except misery. "I think you have to learn a lesson young one, I do suggest a couple of years as a servant, at my hospital. That ought to teach you how to be humble"

The elfling stared with huge eyes at the healer. "Ada will not accept that!"

Elrond cocked his head. "Oh won't he now? As a matter of fact the high king is my forefather, and I am perfectly capable of writing him a small letter asking for a favour. I bet your ada will be more than happy to let you go if a troop of soldiers suddenly show up"

Ivran was shaking, it was probably from sheer mirth for the elfling was grey in the face and his eyes were huge as dinner plates. He hadn't really realized that this elf was someone important before now. Ivran coughed lightly. "The smith is a decent guy, he will warm this one's backside thoroughly when we tell him of this and then Langorion will spend at least two months of bellow duty, am I right?"

Langorion looked as if he was about to scream. "Y….yes…."

Elrond just nodded curtly. "Better see to it then, or else he will be washing dirty sheets for years to come"

Othorion made a grimace. "I doubt that Taelar will accept being told he isn't good enough for the job"

Elrond just grumbled. "Oh he will, he has no business being a healer, he has no business dealing with living things at all."

He turned around and found a bowl of cold water he unceremoniously tossed in the face of the ellon in question. " Wakey wakey, I have some much needed insight to give you"

Taelar coughed and blinked and Elrond stared at his face, eyes hard as flint. "Taelar, what I have seen today tells me a lot , and nothing of it is positive. You are a scoundrel, a complete and utter failure. You have as much knowledge about healing as my wife's cat has about violin making."

Taelar just blinked, his mouth open in shock. "I beg your pardon?!"

Elrond nodded. "You are a coward and an idiot with no regard for the lives and well being of others and it is with great enthusiasm and glee that I can inform you that as of now you are without a job. Othorion here is taking over for he is in fact skilled"

Taelar coughed. "I do not accept this, it is a lie!"

Elrond shook his head. "No, it is no lie at all. You have no self insight at all, and you are as smart as a jellyfish. I have written to Finwë, he will make sure that the city council support my decision whole heartedly. You have until tomorrow to pack, by sunset you are to be gone, do you understand me?"

His voice was cold enough to frighten even an orc and Taelar just hissed and staggered onto his feet, unable to find the right answer to this. He left the room and Elrond went to find Celebrian. Amrynniel woke up a while later and she was beside herself with relief although a bit shaken by it all. Elrond emptied a huge cup of wine and then he went to bed.

The next day Amrynniel was allowed to return home with her daughter. The elfling was surprisingly strong in spite of having been born too early and Elrond was glad he had managed to save them. The two elflings too returned home and their parents told the truth and there were some tears but afterwards they did come out of the situation much stronger than before. Both had to stay in bed for weeks and Avriel spent the time making sure that they no longer believed that they weren't loved there.

Elrond and Celebrian spent a month at the place, by then Othorion quickly had become very popular among the elves of the area for his remedies did in fact help, and he knew what he was doing. The council did support him fully whence a very heated and rather stern letter from the high king arrived and things returned to normal. Amrynniel and Ivran did thank them both whole heartedly and Avriel was so grateful she gifted Elrond with a very nice robe she had sewn. Her sons did a full recovery and Langorion had to publicly apologize to them and denounce his lies. His dad did blow a fuse or two when he heard what his son had said and two months of duty by the bellows became a few years, he and his wife no longer allowed their son to behave as he wished to.

Elrond didn't hear anything of Taeral again for a couple of decades. Then he heard of an elf who made a living collecting river oysters. It was hard and dirty work and it didn't pay much but it was an honest job at least and judging by the descriptions it could only be Taeral. So he had found his jobs among other molluscs, how fitting.

Elrond and Celebrian did often return to Amrynniel and Ivran and Elrond did buy several horses from them over the years. Celeblas was turned into a brood mare and had several exquisite foals but she was unsafe to ride due to her bird phobia. Amrynniel got a smaller dark mare instead, one not afraid of birds and Celebrian and Amrynniel could go for long rides. Amrynniel did in fact have two more elflings, and it went well both times so Elrond could bask in the glory of being one of the very few elves skilful enough to perform a c section, luckily it was not a job he had to do that often.


	12. One stitch at a time

Chapter 12 : One stitch at a time….

The office Elrond at the moment was sitting in was a very nice one, in fact he was positively surprised by the quality of everything he had seen so far. He had been sent on a mission to Formenos and other cities far from the capital to check upon the quality of the local healers and since Formenos after all was a large city he wouldn't have expected anything less. But there was a drawback and unfortunately it was a big one, the hospital and its equipment was top notch in every way, the healers themselves? Not so much so unfortunately.

The elf in charge of the healers there was a very friendly and easy going fellow by the name of Anfalen and he was probably just as old as Elrond but lacked his experience. It wasn't that Anfalen or his co-workers were stupid, or that they were arrogant or anything of the like, no, they were eager to learn and very eager to do the right thing, they just lacked the means to learn. Elrond did for the thousandth time think about the possibility of starting a school for future healers, into which only those with real talent would be accepted. There were at least ten apprentices there and they too were trying but how can you learn when there are no books and no people there with real experience. It became a trial and error sort of situation and Elrond had cringed on more than one occasion already. Who would have guessed that elves could be so…in lack of better words blockheaded?

The hospital was wonderful, everything was clean, the instruments new and shiny and sharp, the beds comfortable, the servants eager to please. It would have been perfect if the people doing the real job had been more like him. There weren't that many patients there naturally enough but Formenos lay to the north and they did have quite a lot of accidents since many made a living as hunters. There were also cattle farms and sheep farms and even some mines where they removed huge blocks of marble from the mountain sides for statues and new buildings. That in special had its own dangers and the injuries which mining caused could be pretty bad indeed.

While staying at Formenos Elrond had been offered to live with Maedhros and her son Rusa and he had gladly accepted. There were others from that family there too and he did in special enjoy the company of Celebrimbor and his dwarven wife Narvi, Elrond had always been fascinated by the dwarves and he was always trying to learn more about the naugrim and their customs and physiology. At the moment Anfalen were trying to make a schedule, they had several injured elves there at the moment and Elrond wanted to test the healer and see whether or not he knew anything about triage at all. Apparently he didn't for the list he had produced so far was something even a novice would have scoffed at. There had been an accident at the mine and ten elves had been injured, a few seriously. Had they been human they would have been dead but elves are way more resilient than mortals. Elrond stared at the list of names and suggestions and he shook his head in despair. "Anfalen, I know that this sounds odd but you cannot treat these patients in that order, it will lead to even more serious damage"

Anfalen frowned. "I am afraid I don't understand?"

Elrond felt the need to do a facepalm but kept himself in check, few elves here in Aman did understand that gesture. "I am sorry, I know you have little experience with such trauma but things are rarely as straight forward as they seem. At least three of these cases are given a faulty diagnosis, can you guess which ones?"

Anfalen was sweating, he had a great deal of respect for Elrond and he sort of cringed and looked as if he wanted to be gone from the room completely. "Ah, uh, no?!"

Elrond sighed. "These three, at the bottom. See?"

He pointed at the names. "Belenar, stone cutter, a laceration to the thigh and abdominal pain, some slight swelling of the groin due to impact trauma?"

Anfalen wetted his lips. "Yes? He got hit by a rock, just next to his…oh you know, precious?"

Elrond groaned inwards, these so called healers were so goddamn shy they couldn't call a shovel a shovel now could they? "Next to his genitalia yes, and the diagnosis you have given is almost correct when it comes to that thigh but wrong when it comes to the abdominal pain and the swelling"

Anfalen did in fact look very confused. "I thought that it was just because of the rock he was hit by?"

Elrond shook his head, he tried to smile but it wasn't easy. "Have you ever heard of a pressure induced hernia? That isn't a swelling, that is a rift within his abdominal wall through which his intestine try to escape. That rock was heavy, and it came fast."

Anfalen whimpered. "Alright, but I have never heard of that before"

Elrond wondered how anyone with serious injuries had survived coming here, the hospital had been open since the days when Finarfin was on the throne and he just guessed that they had to have been protected by the valar or anything like that. He blessed the fact that accidents this serious were rare.

"This patient here. Orolar, carriage driver, got hit by a small piece of rock, just a nosebleed and a slight headache and some problems with his left eye. He was hit on the right side now wasn't he? You have written concussion"

Anfalen had shrunk several inches already, if the elf slumped a little more he would simply slide down underneath the table he was sitting by. "Yes, that would be a natural assumption wouldn't it?"

His voice was thin now and Elrond did pity him but by Eru, he really needed to talk to Finwê and the other kings and get a proper medical education started, preferably yesterday. "Yes, but problems with his eyesight? And the servants told me he feels weak, that his left side is sort of "gone" in a way? That elf has a blood clot in his brain and needs surgery asap."

Anfalen cocked his head. "Asap? I am afraid I am not familiar with that term?"

Elrond groaned again. "As soon as possible!"

Anfalen blinked. "Oh, now I see!"

Elrond tried to smile. "Look, the other patients are given the right treatment and the right diagnosis too, but you do lack the proper background to identify and treat really nasty trauma. I get that neither of you have been to Ennorath and that you have seen no combat and nothing more violent than the average bar fight but this is serious. You all need to learn, a lot!"

Anfalen nodded. "I know, we just…..Oh, things are not that easy!"

Elrond sighed. "Right, over to the third and last on the list which have been given a faulty diagnosis. Look at this, what do you see?"

Anfalen was staring at his own note, eyes moving as he was reading. "Uh, a back injury? Probably torn muscles, maybe even damage to the spine?"

His voice was very trembling now. Elrond closed his eyes for a second. "Let me point to one serious mistake you are making here at this hospital, the healers don't listen to the servants who are doing the dirty work for you. When did you speak to the one who was changing sheets? The one removing the bed pans? The ones feeding the sick and injured? You cannot stay there upon your high horse and believe that the title of healer sort of elevates you above everybody else!"

Anfalen bit his lower lip. "Oh…alright…so, what am I missing?"

Elrond placed a finger onto the sheet of paper. "The one taking care of Larell has written a note at the bottom of his papers, he is pissing blood!"

Anfalen looked apologetic. "Kidney trouble?"

Elrond let out a huge sigh. "A crushed kidney, that is what's causing all the pain. Yes, he has bruising and such where he was hit by that piece of lumber but the worse damage is internal."

Anfalen looked down. "I am sorry, it is just that…we can only deal with what we have seen before, new stuff…it is beyond us, honestly"

Elrond nodded. "I know, and I will try to teach you a little while treating these patients. You can allow your apprentices to deal with the lesser injuries but I want your top four healers to join us when I deal with these three. They all need that information. So, let's go and get started? Time is running short"

Anfalen got up, he was sweaty and there was a muscle trembling by his left eye, darn the elf was on the verge of crying or so it seemed. "Follow me my lord, I will get the servants to gather the others right away"

A few hours after Elrond was busy working on the last patient, the one with the hernia. That was the least serious of the injuries and he was glad that the hospital at least had a huge amount of herbs stored for these patients had needed sedation. Now Elrond was tired and his hands were trembling due to fatigue, it had been some very tough work but he was sure that the patients would be alright, he had confidence in his own skills. The hernia was fixed and now the only thing left was to close the cut he had made across the injured ellon's lower abdomen. It wasn't a very large wound but he felt that his hands were trembling too much, sometimes he did curse the fact that he had some mortal blood in him, it did make him tired faster than a full blooded elf. "Can any of you please close up the wound? I would very much like to see your techniques?"

The healers present looked a bit pale, one had in fact passed out when Elrond was operating on the one with the head injury and he just knew that these elves had to toughen up a lot. They were softies, short and simple. "Ah…do we have to?"

Anfalen was cringing as usual and the others tried to look as if they were busy studying the sheets, the roof, whatever except the patient. Elrond frowned. "Closing a wound is basic knowledge?"

Anfalen sort of whimpered. "But none of us are good at sewing, that is…the work of a female…"

Elrond almost lost it. "Are you telling me that none of you are capable of closing a wound properly? How in Morgoth's name have you treated cuts and such so far?"

Anfalen looked down. "We press the sides of the wound together and put a tight bandage over it?"

Elrond did do a facepalm, and he was rolling his eyes. "And not one of your patients have succumbed to sepsis? Eru! You have been more lucky that you deserve! Wounds need air to heal, not some dank tight bandage under which all sorts of nasty infections can take hold. Isn't there anybody present who can use a needle and a thread?"

The healers sort of looked down at the floor, they looked like a bunch of school kids the teacher has scolded. Elrond swore. "Fine, one second!"

He walked toward the door leading to the waiting room, there were a few elves there with minor problems waiting to see a healer and he threw the door open and shouted. "Excuse me, is there anybody in here who knows how to sew?!"

Everybody just stared at him, wide eyed! He was wearing some rather bloody robes and he looked terrifying to anybody not familiar with him. Nobody made a sound until someone at the back of the room raised a hand. "I can sew my lord"

Elrond cocked his head, it was an elleth, hardly more than a child and she sat there with an elfling by her side and an older elleth sat next to them. Elrond frowned. "You do? You look a bit young?"

The elleth got up, she was wearing this very pretty blue dress and it was obvious that she came from a working class family for it had to be her best one, it couldn't have been worn that often. "I sew a lot my lord, that is how we make a living. My brother sews too, we fix everything from gowns to saddles you see"

Elrond saw that the young one had to be of Noldorin origin but her hair was lighter than normal for a pure blooded Noldo and she was a bit smaller than most noldorin ellith too. "I see, what is your name my lady? And why are you here?"

The elleth grinned, she didn't seem to be afraid of him and that made Elrond a bit impressed, seeing someone in bloody clothes usually sent at least half of the room out shouting. "My name is Nueleth and I am here because my aunt here has broken a finger."

Elrond stared at the older elleth, she was sitting there and looked surprisingly calm and then he realized that the elleth in fact was blind. That was extremely rare and he felt intrigued right away. "So you have come to show her the way? That is nice of you"

Nueleth nodded and her smile was very wide indeed. "Yes, she needs us quite often, she cannot see and she has very bad hearing too. It was something she drank when she was a toddler, it poisoned her and she never recovered"

Elrond went from intrigued to very fascinated, a poison which works in such a manner was something he was unfamiliar with. "So you make a living sewing, have you ever sewn flesh?"

Nueleth shook her head. "No, but tough leather is probably just as hard to sew as skin isn't it? I am not afraid of blood my lord, we have pigs and we slaughter them when they are big enough"

Elrond started to realize that Nueleth had guts, and that she was the sort of person who doesn't back away from anything. "That is great young one, and your brother sews too? That is unusual"

She giggled. "Yes, the other lads try to bully him but I gave them all a bloody nose and now they don't dare to. He is very good at embroidery, and I think he one day will be making dresses for the kings and queens"

Elrond stared at the lad, he was smiling too and appeared to be a ray of sunshine in spite of the rather worn robes he wore. Elrond did see callouses on their fingertips and their skin was rather rough too, some elves were rather poor even here in Aman and he knew that this family had to be one of those. "What does your parents do?"

Nueleth made a grimace. "Mom is with Namo, she drowned in a flash flood when Aralan was five. Father is making shoes but he has a bad hand so he doesn't manage to earn much money."

Elrond felt how pity filled his soul. "A bad hand? What happened?"

Nueleth shrugged. "It got squashed, in a press. They have this huge press which is used to stretch leathers and his sleeve got caught in it and they didn't manage to turn the thing off before his hand had been squeezed into it."

Elrond frowned. "What sort of mechanism would that be?"

She smiled but the smile was sad. "They powered it with wheels driven by water, it was by the mill by the river"

Elrond had seen the mill when he rode to Formenos, some said that the intricate network of wheels and pulleys had been designed by Fëanor himself but he had never said anything about that. "So you kids do in fact feed the family?"

Nueleth nodded with a wide grin. "Yes, and I am very good too, they say I sew like one of Vaire's handmaidens"

Elrond stared at the young elleth, she was bright, no doubt about that and bold too, she was just the sort of person who ought to live a much better life than this. He waved his hand at her. "Good, come with me then, I want to see what you can do with your needle"

She followed him and the boy sat down next to the blind elleth and he appeared to be very relaxed about the whole thing. The healers standing in the operating theatre frowned when they saw the young elleth who walked in behind Elrond, the expressions on their faces told of disbelief and confusion and also a wee bit of anger. "A child? What can she possibly do?"

Elrond smiled at Anfalen. "I am about to find out, make way my lords, let her get some room"

Nueleth just went for it, she grasped needle and thread and didn't hesitate, not even a second. She just started sewing as if this was what she was doing every day and Elrond was in short shocked. She had an amazing technique and used very precise and neat stitches which would close the wound up in a way which wouldn't even leave a scar. She finished in way shorter time than Elrond himself would have and then she washed off the wound without even being asked to do it. Elrond saw that the healers gathered there were staring and their eyes were the size of dinner plates, he wanted to laugh but that would be rude. "So, it seems as if this little seamstress of ours indeed is more skilled than all of you, I think she has some astonishing talent."

Anfalen looked a bit nervous. "Yes, I don't doubt that but…she is just a child? You cannot possibly suggest that she…"

Elrond straightened his back and smiled. "Oh but I do"

He turned to Nueleth. "I have a suggestion for you young lady, how about you teaching the healers here how to sew? And if you want to learn how to be a healer I would be more than happy to accept you as a new apprentice, it pays well too"

She gasped, then she nodded and her braids were jumping up and down. "Are you serious, of course I can teach them how to sew, and I would love to become a healer. I really like to help people!"

The healers looked mortified, being taught by an elleth who by the looks of it hadn't even reached puberty? That was a blow to their pride and Elrond found this extremely amusing. "Then it is a deal. You can start tomorrow at ten, and I promise you that I will take a look at your aunt and help her with that finger"

Nueleth was grinning from one ear to the other, Elrond already knew that she would be a great healer. Most of the healers he had come across came from upper class families and knew naught about the hardship many of the poorer elves faced and he was dead sure that she would be able to treat just about anyone without caring about social class at all. And her brother, if she was right about his talent Elrond was sure that the royal tailor of Tirion would love a new apprentice. The last one suddenly went and got married and started farming flax instead and he was rather picky since the job required true talent.

Elrond went to check upon Nueleth's aunt who's name was Taenya and he found that she was a very pleasant person but her handicaps did cause her a lot of grief and trouble. She couldn't work so Nueleth and her father and brother had to take care of her and that was hard on her since she really wanted to contribute. She tried to help by braiding ropes but she had tripped and fallen and broken her finger when she tried to stop her fall. Elrond took care of that rather fast but he was very eager to find out what she had ingested back then. Her eyes did look normal but it was very clear that her brain didn't get any signals from them and her hearing was terrible too. Elrond had to almost shout in order for her to hear him. She didn't know what it was that she had accidentally gotten her tiny hands on and there were few who knew, but her father had been working as a painter and the house had been full of chemicals used to create different colours. Elrond made a vow to himself, he was going to find out, this was a mystery and one he would love to unravel. He also did notice that she had very bad skin and her hair was thin and didn't have the normal shine, she did look very sickly.

He did give her some strengthening potions and sent them home and he was rather sure that he would be able to help this little family when he returned to the mansion that evening. He was a bit tired but sat down to relax and enjoy a quiet evening in the garden with an old friend who happened to be living in Formenos. Maedhros servants had provided him with some very good wine and fresh fruit and he was really enjoying life. He had done several good deeds that evening and he was listening to a story about some farmers trying to get rid of some rather bothersome voles. His friend Daberon was making a living farming carrots and other vegetables and the voles had multiplied like mad the last year and had become a real problem. The cats and the dogs couldn't keep up with them at all, there were voles everywhere and Daberon had sent his servants out onto the fields with clubs and small crossbows and even spears. It had become an all out war.

Elrond was discussing possible counter measures when Rusa suddenly ran by them, carrying a small bowl of something Elrond couldn't identify. It looked like some sort of brownish paint? The lad was running so fast he didn't even notice the two Ellyn sitting there and Elrond frowned, Rusa was infamous for doing pranks and the lad did remind him of his own sons, they had been hellions too at that age. Rusa was gone in a flash and Elrond was about to say something wise about the nature of voles and their capability to multiply when someone else came running and that sight made him forget all about voles for a while. It was Narvi, and she was wearing just a shift, slippers and she carried a broom in her hand. That was shocking enough for the dwarrowdams were famous for being very proper and they would never appear in public unless they were fully dressed but the most shocking thing was that she wore her hair down and half of it was covered with brown goo.

Elrond realized what it was, henna. She was trying to use henna to darken her hair and Rusa had snatched the bowl and now she was in hot pursuit. Daberon was gaping with eyes like a deep water fish and Elrond just turned his eyes away to be polite. This was…a bit too much. Narvi saw them and let out a small shriek and Elrond managed to smile. "He ran in that direction!"

Narvi just turned around and disappeared and Elrond was left sniggering. Daberon was blinking. "Uh, was that Celebrimbor's wife? What in heavens name was she doing with her hair?"

Elrond tried to avoid a difficult situation. "Uh, it is a dwarven custom, they dye their hair, ah…to honour the ancestors. Rusa must have taken the dye. Don't worry, it will be alright!"

Daberon giggled. "Oh, I see, that little rascal, I bet his mom is gonna warm his butt!"

Elrond nodded. "Afraid so, Maedhros doesn't accept pranks which can lead to harm."

A servant brought them some more fruit and Elrond forgot about the small incident. After a while Daberon had to return to his home, he had gotten some new ideas and Elrond was soon gonna be ready for bed. He felt exhausted and also eager, tomorrow he would really see what Nueleth could do. He was heading towards his room when he heard a roar from the great hall, it sounded a bit like some battle cry and he stopped and frowned, shocked and a bit confused. Then he recognized the voice, it was Maedhros and she was obviously so angry she was roaring instead of speaking. He remembered how fierce she had been on the battle fields of old and her battle cries had sent orcs scurrying like frightened rabbits more than once. "RUSA! What in Sauron's name have you done! Morgoths dangling balls, when will you ever learn!"

Elrond hurried back downstairs and he had to blink just to make sure that his eyes weren't betraying him. There he saw Rusa and some other elflings and they looked…he burst into laughter. It was obvious what Rusa had done, he had taken the henna to use as war paint and now they all wore elaborate markings upon their faces. Someone had forgotten to tell them that henna does colour the skin underneath the paste, that it cannot be just washed away after a while. Elrond saw seven elflings with rather ghastly henna tattoos and he tried to avoid laughing too hard but it was darn hard not to. The kids were staring at the floors, sulking. Rusa was almost in tears and now Narvi too came running, she had heard the commotion. Now she was dressed but half her hair was dyed and the other half not, she had in fact sort of braided her hair so that the braid was half dark and half blonde and the effect was rather attractive and very unusual. "What is going on…Oh Mahal's hairy…"

She too burst into laughter and some of the elflings broke into tears. Maedhros was still fuming but her chin started to tremble and suddenly she too started laughing. "Oh sweet eru, you look like a bunch of tiny orcs. Those markings will be there for a fortnight at least, maybe even longer."

Rusa gaped. "It will?! Oh…sh…I mean, how unfortunate. I thought it would go away when we washed our faces"

Maedhros had to wipe some tears from her face. "Well, now you know. Henna which is left on the skin for too long leaves a permanent mark. Having to wear those tattoos of yours for a week or two will teach you all"

Rusa was looking at the floor, sulking and Maedhros had to ruffle his hair. "If it is any comfort I am sure that ada Taurion will love those, the avarin elves use henna a lot"

Rusa did look a wee bit happier but some of the other elflings were obviously in fear of what their parents would think. Elrond did bet that there would be a few house arrests come the morrow. Since the drama was over he returned to his room and took a swift bath before he went to bed. He was still chuckling, Elladan and Elrohir had never experimented with henna, but that was just about the only thing which they hadn't tried!

Elrond did sleep rather well that night, and when the morrow came he was rested and ready to start a new day with new challenges, he was sure he could transform these healers into really good ones, but it could take some decades. The lady had left for a meeting with some friends and he was greeted by some servants and served a very large breakfast which made him groan inwardly for he was an elf, not a hobbit. Then he found some clean robes and left for the hospital, it wasn't far from the mansion and he enjoyed the short walk, the air was crisp and clear and since it was autumn the trees had started to get some very pretty colours.

When he reached his destination he discovered that Nueleth had arrived already and she was at work. She had brought small slices of leather and needles and thread of different thickness and strength and now she was trying to show the healers how to make different types of stitches. Elrond was amused, she was obviously not afraid of speaking her true opinion for her language was crass to say the least. He heard her complain about one of the healers, a rather high born young ellon who probably only had encountered the mellow and well behaved ladies of high society. "No my lord, you are messing that up, see?"

She was pulling on the thread the poor ellon had tried to use and the two slices of leather buckled. "If the patients tries to move that method of yours will cause the wound to reopen! Damn it, do you have ears at all? Or are they stuffed full of bark?"

The healers were gobsmacked by her energy, and her very demeanour, and Elrond knew that he had found the perfect future healer. "You guys ought to wear hats, or else the woodpeckers might attack you, looking for grubs. You have sawdust for brains! Even a child would know how to simply stitch two pieces of cloth together!"

Elrond was shaking all over with withheld mirth, by Eru, she was a tiny dragon, ready for an attack. The healers were all sheepish, and rather subdued. They would perhaps have protested if they had been alone with her but neither of them dared to speak up against a female in public, and least of all a female like that.

Elrond walked over to Anfalen's office and started going through their list of herbs and he was immersed in that task for some hours. They had a lot of things there and he was a bit in awe of their efficiency and system of cataloguing the items placed in their storages. They even had herbs and chemicals he barely had heard off and yes, he did get slightly jealous. Formenos was a rather wealthy city and that was obvious, many patrons had given gifts to the hospital and it had been put to good use. He was about to move over to the lists of surgical instruments when there was a bit of a ruckus heard from outside, he heard shouts and whinnying and someone was screaming. Oh no, someone had probably gotten hurt and he dropped everything he had in his hands and ran. He arrived at the reception just as some elves rushed inn, an elleth was in tears as she carried an elfling in her arms and Elrond swallowed the feeling of dread which fell upon him. Seeing wounded elflings always got to him, like few other things ever did.

Two Ellyn were following the elleth, one was so alike her he had to be her brother and the other one was probably her husband. Both were pale and visibly distraught and Elrond was about to stop them and ask what the problem was when the elleth turned around and he saw the elfling's face. He immediately froze, it was horrible. A swollen red and oozing mass of puss and discoloured tissue. The eyes were gone in all the swelling and the elfling was breathing very funny and making some terrible wailing sounds. What in Morgoth's name was this? Then he recognized the tunic the little one was wearing, this was one of Rusa's friends from yesterday and things clicked, it was the henna! The elleth saw him and let out a small cry of relief. "Lord Elrond, please, you must help us, it is little Rhaelan, he…he was like this waking up this morning!"

Elrond almost dragged the elleth into one of the available rooms and he put the elfling onto a bed there. "What is your name my lady? How old is he?"

The elleth was in tears and the two Ellyn looked very nervous too. "He is fourteen, my name is Annael and this is my husband Rusarion and my brother Galarad."

Elrond frowned. "Fourteen? He is very small for his age?"

The elfling was indeed very small, he didn't look as if he could be more than eight or nine tops. Annael whimpered. "He is a reborn, he was a slave working in the mines of Morgoth and his health got so damaged even rebirth didn't fix all of his problems, he needs many years to put it all behind him and forget. Only then will he be able to fully heal"

Elrond already knew the source of the problems then, an immune system which was spiritually compromised. The connection between soul and body is way stronger in an elf than in a human being, the past still affected this one since his soul remembered and in turn weakened the body. "Does he have any sort of physical ailments besides being small?"

The father answered. "No, not really, but he coughs a lot when there is dust around and he is being bullied by the larger kids. He is a very sensitive one, likes to be on his own but Rusa has sort of accepted him and he has started to make friends with many of Rusa's friends too. We have been so grateful, it has really made him come out of his shell."

Elrond just nodded as he checked the pulse and the temperature. Rhaelan was burning hot and shivering and Annael was weeping. "Oh Eru, I feel so guilty. He came home last night covered with these odd markings and I got so mad and scolded him, and now this!"

Elrond tried to smile. "Henna, it was henna, several of Rusa's friends got those markings, it was a mistake they did. They didn't think that the colour would stick to their skin but it does."

Galarad was frowning. "Are you saying that it is that paint that has caused this?"

Elrond nodded. "It is yes, since Rhaelan has a weaker immune system than the normal elfling he has suffered an allergic reaction to the henna, and a very severe one too"

He pulled the elfling's long hair out of the way and started finding some ointments, painkillers and bandages. He would have to put some very light bandages onto the skin to protect it and to keep the ointments in place and he would also need to make sure that the sick little one swallowed a lot of different herbs which would help the swelling to recede and stop the skin from cracking and oozing. "It looks terrible I know, but he will be well again. It may take some time mind you, and there is a risk of minor scaring as well."

Annael was still crying, and her husband tried to calm her down. Elrond went to work with his remedies and before long the little one's head was wrapped in bandages. It did look odd and he made sure that the elfling got a huge dose of pain relief, he would have to lay in bed for many days now. There were a small apartment connected to the hospital where the relatives of sick elves could stay while their beloved ones recovered and Elrond sent some servants over to make sure that the rooms were ready. Then he sat down to mix more lotion and he also wrote down a list of the medicines Rhaelan was to get over the next days. It was very important that nobody stopped giving him medicines even if he appeared to be alright, he could relapse.

When that was done Elrond sat down and wrote a letter to the parents of the kids who had been marked with henna and he made sure that the hospital scribe copied it and sent it to everyone. If anyone else started showing symptoms they ought to come to him right away and react immediately.

Nueleth had in fact managed to teach the healers quite a lot and they did make progress, one stitch at a time but she was still rather hard on them and scolded them without mercy whenever she believed that they were too sloppy or used the wrong technique. Luckily there was a sort of dinner break during the early afternoon and the healers appeared to be very glad they could escape her wrath if only for a short while. Elrond spent the rest of the work day teaching Anfalen about the proper way to treat burns, then he went back to the mansion and found that Maedhros had heard about Rhaelan and she was in despair. She knew that it wasn't Rusa's fault but she was still angry and very upset and she had sent some very nice gifts to Rhaelan's parents house as a sort of compensation. Rusa was given house arrest and was sulking like mad and Narvi had tried to cheer him up. She hadn't fixed her hair, in fact she had liked the style with half her hair dyed and so she would keep it that way. The braids with half dark and half blonde hair was quite a nice effect. That didn't make Rusa feel any better though, and Maedhros had given him some not so enviable tasks.

Elrond had to grin, he remembered his own youth. Once he and Elros had opened a door to a room which was freshly washed and some of Maglor's dogs had entered and there had been white pawmarks all over the floors. He and his brother had spent the best part of two days trying to wash it off. Rusa had been sent to the basement, the servants were tidying up the huge storage rooms down there for they had been left untouched for years and Maedhros knew they were filled with stuff nobody had any use for. She would either toss it away or give it away. Rusa did find it a bit exciting though, nobody remembered what the basement truly hid and there could be treasures. So he wasn't completely out of his comfort zone as he trotted off down the stairs to help out. Elrond liked the lad and he knew that there was some true strength in him.

Elrond and Maedhros were sitting in the garden discussing the autumns harvest of grapes when Rusa came running, he was holding something in his hand and he was obviously very curious. "Mom, what is this?"

Elrond frowned, it was a sort of shard of some kind, it could be from a broken bottle but it didn't look quite right. It looked almost like some sort of crystal and it was bright blue and very pretty. Maedhros took it gently. "My oh my, it is lovely, what a nice colour? I wonder what it is? Where did you find it?"

Rusa was almost jumping up and down with sheer excitement. "I found it at the bottom of an old bucket, there were pencils in it, and brushes. They were so old!"

Elrond took the shard, it was indeed crystal but it wasn't formed in the usual way, this was in fact residue of some sorts and it was very heavy and dense, it looked as if it had formed itself after the bottom of the bucket. Here and there a few hairs were stuck in it and he had to admire the lovely cobalt blue colour. "This is probably something which was left when the mansion was painted the first time, I know atya did paint it deep blue back in the time of the trees."

Elrond frowned. "So this was liquid back then?"

Maedhros nodded. "Yes, it was very popular for a while, every painter wanted some of that colour and they did produce a lot but then they stopped for it was expensive and they needed a lot of other chemicals to make the colour visible. They found some other colours which were just as pretty and not so hard to come by."

Elrond did hold the shard up against the light, it was in fact very pretty and he wondered if it could be turned into a piece of jewellery. The colour would be stunning mixed with silver. Maedhros petted Rusa on the head. "Thank you for showing us this, now, go back to work, there is still a lot to do"

Rusa sighed and bowed obediently before he disappeared down into the basement again, looking for more treasure. The shard was left on the table and it caught the sunshine and sparked like a sapphire. One of the gardeners came by with a wheelbarrel with compost and he saw the pretty colour and came over. "My lord, my lady, where did you find that one? I haven't seen something like that for some hundred years?"

Elrond cocked his head. "In the basement, Rusa found it in a bucket, you are familiar with this?"

The gardener nodded. "Oh yes, the painters used to create some very nice blue paint with this stuff, and also those making glass and ceramics. We gardeners also used it a lot for it is poisonous as heck when mixed with some other substances. We used it to get rid of rodents"

Maedhros looked curious. "You did? What did you do?"

The gardener smiled. "Oh we took either paint or powder and mixed it with wine, it made the stuff turn into tiny beads and those we mixed into some oats and left for the rats. You see, the rats couldn't digest the beads and since they are so poisonous it killed them rather fast, the beads stayed in their bellies and they couldn't get them out until it was too late."

Elrond leaned back into his chair. "That is rather clever, the beads just stayed there?"

The gardener nodded. "Yep, I opened a few rats you see just to check it out and the beads clump together and thus they cannot get out either way."

Maedhros frowned and looked a bit shocked. "That sounds dangerous? What if someone ingested that stuff by accident?"

The gardener shrugged. "It was mixed with oats and the beads are pretty and blue so they are clearly visible, nobody has ever eaten any of those as far as I know but I do know that one guy accidentally fed some of it to his horse. It wasn't much but the poor thing was sick for almost a year, it got blind and lost its fur and it did look terrible but the healer we had back then gave it some sort of laxative and the beads did come out, in one huge lump. The beast got better the moment the beads were out"

Elrond stared at the gardener and he was blinking, his brain working overtime. Maedhros was staring at him. "My lord, are you alright?"

Elrond twitched, then he got up. "Yes, yes I am very much alright, I just had an epiphany, regarding a patient. There is something I need to check, I will be back later"

Maedhros just stared at him in confusion and Elrond ran out the gate and found his robe and some better shoes. He ran into the street and stopped a random ellon who were passing by carrying a sack of potatoes. "Excuse me, but is there a painter here in this city? Someone who paints …just anything?"

The elf nodded and looked a bit confused but he pointed towards the inner part of the city. "Yes, there is a painter here, he lives next to the town square, a building with a paint brush drawn on the gate"

Elrond grinned. "Thank you so very much!"

He ran off and before long he was trying to explain the situation to a very old and dignified elf who just stood there trying to understand what this stranger was telling him. "Uh, yes? We do have that chemical here, but we haven't used it in years. That colour is sort of out of fashion?"

Elrond nodded. "I know, but please, I need to see some of it, I have a patient who may have ingested some, years ago"

The painted nodded and went into a shed, returned with a lump of some sort of white metallic rock and also some powder. "This is it, by heating it and mixing it with some other chemicals you get this lovely deep blue."

Elrond frowned. "Do you ever use alcohol around this chemical?"

The painted sort of shrugged. "Uhm, no? Or, yes, in fact we do. But only to clean the brushes, it makes the chemical became a solid again and the residue can be reused."

Elrond tilted his head, his voice tense. "The mixture, how does it look?"

The painter was very confused by now. "It looks blue of course, a very pretty blue."

Elrond took a deep breath, he could almost see it, a small container of that liquid, ready to be mixed into paint again, pretty and blue and probably very tempting for a curious elfling. And if shocked and worried parents then gave the child some wine to make her throw up, or to dissolve the liquid? He grasped the painter's hands. "Thank you, thank you so very much. You have just saved someone, believe me. "

The painter was still confused but managed to smile, he probably believed that Elrond was more than a wee bit crazy. The healer ran to the hospital and since it was late there were few people there but he did find one of the servants. "Do you know where Nueleth and her family lives? This is important!"

The servant frowned. "Uh, well, yes, sort of. I know they do live by the public stables rather close to the main gate but I don't know which house?"

Elrond tried to calm down. "Right, good. Now, I need some equipment prepared, could you please help me?"

The servant nodded with a curious expression upon his face and Elrond dragged him back into the operating theatre and started shouting orders. Before long he stood there with a huge crate filled with stuff and he moaned at the sight. It was way too big to carry and some of the equipment was rather fragile too. Could he ask some of the servants to carry it? The ellon who had helped him made a grimace. "Uh, my lord? We do have a small carriage here, pulled by a pony. I could go and order it made ready?"

Elrond took a deep sigh of relief. "Oh thank Eru, yes, please, do it now!"

The servant ran off and Elrond found some clean robes and also some sheets and a couple of blankets. The servant returned after just a short while and bowed his head. "The janitor is hitching the carriage to the pony right now, I can help you with the crate?"

Elrond thanked him and they carried the thing outside and Elrond had to gape. The servant had said pony and that was not an exaggeration but an understatement. The animal was the type children ride and it was so small Elrond had seen plenty of hunting dogs way larger. But it was sturdy and strong and the carriage was one with four wheels. It was small too, the crate took most of the place and Elrond did barely have space for his feet inside of it. He had to sit there crouched over completely and he did look ridiculous but he swallowed his pride and gave the pony a quick pat on the rump with the reins. The animal took off with a speed Elrond usually only saw on a racetrack and since the carriage and the pony were so close to the ground it became a very peculiar experience. Elrond felt rather small all of a sudden, and the ordinary carriages and horses became like mountains, moving ones too. The pony was trotting along with his ears flat down and a stubborn expression upon its tiny face and Elrond had a hard time controlling it, it was more stubborn than any destrier he had ridden.

Finally he arrived at his destination and luckily he did see Nueleths's brother sitting outside of the house sewing something. He stopped the pony and the animal tried to take a piece of his rump out of him as he tethered it, it was not a very docile beast at all. Aralan looked puzzled and got up. "My lord Elrond, what are you doing here?"

Elrond smiled and managed to get the crate off the carriage, his back was groaning with the effort. "Is Nueleth home? I have discovered what it is that ails your aunt"

The lad gaped. "You have? Oh Eru, let me help you with that crate"

He opened the door and Elrond did see that they indeed were poor. The room was tiny and there weren't much furniture to be seen and the walls were naked and washed white. Nueleth and Taenya sat by a huge basket filled with old rags and they were braiding them into ropes. Nueleth got up and Elrond did see that an ellon with a bit worn look sat by the fireplace. Elrond did see that his hand was completely stiff right away, the fingers were immobile and probably the wrist as well. Nueleth gaped. "My lord?"

Elrond put the crate down with a groan. "Greetings, listen, I think I know why Taenya went blind, and I also think it can be reversed!"

Nueleth gasped and the ellon looked as if he was in shock. "Ah, is that even possible?"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, I have to ask Taenya some questions though, to confirm my suspicions"

The blind elleth hadn't heard much of what they had said so Elrond had to repeat it all and she nodded slowly. "I can answer if I remember?"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Great, you did drink something right? Do you remember what it did look like? And were you given anything to drink afterwards?"

She tilted her head, tried to remember. "I was so young back then. But…oh, yes, it was blue, bright blue. It was pretty and I think I believed it to be blueberry juice? Mom used to make that for us kids"

Elrond closed his eyes for a second, yes, he was right! She continued. "It did taste terribly though and I tried to spit it out and ada saw it and gave me some wine to get rid of the taste. He said I shouldn't drink paint, for it was bad for me. And that night I got really sick and when I woke up the next day I couldn't see"

Elrond smiled and saw that Nueleth and her brother looked fascinated and her father had moved closer too. He appeared to be a very shy person and Elrond knew the type, people who are willing to work themselves to death for others but fail to take care of themselves. "What is all this? What does it mean?"

He did sound rather confused and Elrond grasped Taenya's hand. "What you did drink wasn't really paint, it was paint residue, but it wasn't really solid yet. When you got the wine afterwards it did go solid though, and it has stayed within your belly ever since and slowly leaked poison into your body. That is why you are blind and almost deaf, your body is trying to heal itself but it is constantly being attacked by that poison and since we are elves and not mortals the symptoms of that poisoning is a bit different from what everybody would expect. It has attacked the nerves which feeds signals from your eyes to your brain and the nerves leading from your ears as well."

Nueleth was wide eyed. "Oh Eru, can she be cured?"

Elrond nodded. "She has this small lump of solidified cobalt paint in her stomach, and it cannot get out of there for it is too large and it cannot be digested. It has to come out, then she will be able to heal on her own"

Taenya was shivering, her face pale. "Oh, how…how is it gonna come out?!"

Elrond made a grimace, he had to choose his words wisely now. "There is only one way, and that is surgery. I am sorry, but I can assure you that I can do it, and you will get better very soon. The poison has been messing with your entire body"

Nueleth put a hand in front of her mouth and Aralan was whimpering. "Does aunt need to go to the hospital?"

Elrond shook his head. "No, I have brought everything I need here, she will be way more comfortable in an environment she knows."

Nueleth's father was trembling. "Will it be dangerous? I lost my wife, I cannot stand the thought of losing my sister too?"

Elrond tried to remain calm. "There is always a risk but without it she will continue to suffer for the rest of time, that lump will never just go away on its own."

Taenya was shaking. "I will do it, please, don't try to stop me. I want…I want to be normal again, I want to see, and hear, and have a life!"

Her brother was cringing. "But…"

She tilted her head. "No, listen to me Landar, you won't lose me, I trust this healer with my life. He can give me everything I lost back, I can be who I was meant to be. That is worth the risk"

Landar swallowed and looked down. "Then be it, but I am afraid"

Elrond smiled his warmest smile. "That is to expect, and quite natural. I will need Nueleth to assist me, if she feels ready for that task?"

She nodded, she was pale but her eyes were calm and Elrond admired her ability to just adapt to the situation. "Great, now, when did you last eat Taenya? You need sedation and food can affect the effect"

She bit her lower lip. "Hours ago, at noon? Just some bread and cheese!"

Elrond let out a small sigh of relief. "You have digested that by now, then it is fine. I will mix the right sedatives and you Nueleth can prepare a bed we can work on."

She immediately started to take the sheets off the only real bed there and Elrond turned to Landar and Aralan. "You two ought to get outside, you don't want to see this"

They left, although reluctantly and Elrond made Taenya drink all the sedatives. They helped her over onto the bed and Elrond laid her down very gently. Nueleth got some clean sheets to cover her with and Elrond hummed softly to make her relax. Since she was a thin and tired person she fell asleep rather fast and Elrond got busy. He took forth a tray of instruments and got the elleth's clothes out of the way. She was so very thin and her skin so paper like, she had suffered a lot, in silence. Nueleth was still pale but he did see the spark of curiosity in her eyes and he smiled and patted her back. "You are doing great little one, now, watch what I am doing,. One day you may have to perform surgery too remember"

She leaned forth and now she didn't seem affected at all, she looked as if she was very eager to learn indeed. Elrond did cut the elleth open with one quick movement and he did work very fast. The faster he was the less the chance of complications and great blood loss and he found the stomach very fast. This elleth had almost no fat and so the organs were easy to find. He pulled the stomach closer to the incision and cut it open, careful not to spill any stomach fluids. He put one finger through the cut and voila, there it was. A hard lump, the size of a large plum. He made the incision a bit larger and pulled the lump out with some forceps. It was dark, almost black and ominous looking and he dropped it into a pan and started sewing. Nueleth was handing over the things he needed like a champion and he finished in record time. He closed the wound, put bandages and ointment onto it and cleaned Taenya carefully before the bed was remade and she was put into a more comfortable position. Now she looked as if she was sleeping very well and Landar and Aralan were allowed to return to the room. Landar was gaping. "Already? That didn't take…even a quarter of an hour?!"

Elrond showed them the pan. "I had excellent help, and here is the culprit. Her body will start to heal now, the poison will drain from her body so she needs a lot of water for the next days, and good food. I will make sure that someone comes with some very nutritious stuff here every day!"

Landar was biting his lower lip. "We cannot pay you for any of this…!"

Elrond smiled. "You already have, I have found my next apprentice and one I know will become a terrific healer, probably better than me"

Nueleth was blushing and Elrond removed all the tools and the equipment. Landar stared at the lump. "That thing looks evil, what are you gonna do with it?"

Elrond shrugged. "If you don't want it as a memory I bet the hospital can keep it, as a part of their collection. The new healers ought to see it and learn. Things can be very surprising sometimes."

Landar shuddered. "Take it away, please, we don't want to see it here."

Elrond did slide the thing into a small bag and placed it within the crate, then he sat down to rest and to make sure that Taenya was alright when she woke up. Nueleth did offer him some tea which he gladly accepted and Aralan was entertaining him with stories of the city and its inhabitants. The lad had a very keen eye and did notice things nobody else would bother with. Elrond had to stay there for the night for Taenya didn't wake up until the early morning and by then he was getting a little bit worried but he didn't show it. The loss of blood had been minimal and he was rather sure that she would avoid infections but she had been rather weak and things can always go wrong. Taenya was a bit confused when she did wake up but otherwise fine and Elrond did give her more painkillers before he returned to the hospital. He paid for some crates of food to be sent to the address and then he went back to Maedhros mansion to sleep. He did take a bath first and had to grin when Rusa walked by, in obvious shame and with some very nice markings on his face still. It was obvious that the lad did regret his little prank and that he had learned his lesson now.

Elrond did check in on Rhaelan too, the lad was getting better by the hour and the swelling had gone down. The skin still looked raw though and he was in pain so he gave him a lot of pain killers and then he had to calm his mother down yet again and explain that things would get better but that it would take time.

Elrond did return to the house the next morning, by then Taenya was so much better and her skin had started to look normal, she wasn't as pale and she was in very little pain. She would be just fine. Nueleth was very grateful and Landar was almost kissing Elrond's hands, the healer was sure he could come up with something the ellon could do, something better than being a shoe maker. The hand couldn't be fixed but there should be work available which didn't call for great dexterity.

The patients back at the hospital were doing better too and would make it and Anfalen was very eager to get a formal education started somewhere. Elrond sat down to write a letter to the kings and ask them for funds and some feed back and he was rather sure that they all would agree. There was a huge building down by the river which could be transformed into a school rather easily, it would need some work of course and also some time but it was in many ways perfect. Elrond was sure it could be bought and put into good use.

Rhaelar had become so well now he could return to his home and his family were beside themselves with relief, he still had some sores left though and had to wear a bandage but his mother did know how to change it and Elrond did give her a lot of medicine she should give him. He would be fine but Elrond warned her that her son never would have a normal reaction to henna, he ought to stay away from that stuff forever for his body would most certainly react violently again if he was exposed to it.

The healers were still getting taught by Nueleth who now had advanced their skills from simple stitches to embroidery and Elrond had to admit that things did look better, a lot better. He did also find some old books they all ought to read, and he knew that they would. He had also gotten an idea for a new job for Landar, one which didn't require that much strength but wits and a willing heart. The hospital was in need of a person who could gather and prepare herbs and Landar accepted the job with glee, he could do that rather easily, even with just one hand. Elrond also managed to convince one of the royal clothes designers of Aralan's talents and the lad would be accepted as an apprentice when he came of age, until then he could help his father. Nueleth would come with Elrond when he did leave the city and start her apprenticeship. She was young but strong enough for it and also extremely eager.

Maedhros was impressed by the elleth's spark and personality and decided to become a sort of extra protector and Nueleth was pretty overwhelmed by the help she received. Elrond stayed at Formenos for two weeks extra, just to keep an eye on Taenya and the day he was to leave she could tell him that she had started to see light again, in time her vision would return to normal and so would her hearing. She too wanted to become a seamstress and Elrond was pretty sure that she would become a brilliant one too. Rhaelan had returned to normal now, the scars faded and with some help from the chef who worked at the hospital they did find a new diet which would strengthen the elfling and make sure that he started to grow way better than before. Rhaelan didn't like it very much but his mother was formidable when she needed to be and there was no escape. From now on liver and meat and lots and lots of dairy were on the meny to strengthen his bones and make him stronger. Elrond was pretty sure he would become a very normal and handsome young ellon in a few years time.

Elrond had returned to his home and things had returned to normal when he did receive a letter from the royal court. It was written with Finwë's very elegant handwriting and it did promise Elrond everything he needed to start a medical academy. It did put one demand upon him though, the first apprentices who were allowed to start there had to be war veterans. Elrond did agree, they would have seen blood and death and injuries before and he knew that the king was very wise in his decision. Elrond was dead tired of trying to teach young elves who never had seen as much as a hangnail and this would solve that problem once and for all. To someone who had been through the battles of old few things would seem extreme.

Elrond did receive a letter from Taenya six months afterwards, she had made a full recovery, her eyesight perfect and her hearing was normal too, even better, she had met a special someone and now she was betrothed and would start a family of her own. Elrond made sure that he would send a very nice gift for the wedding. Landar was thriving in his new job as well and Aralan was making sketches of new clothing all day long, some of the drawings were extremely good and Elrond had some sent over to the court. The designers there were almost fighting over them. Aralan would become a famous person rather fast.

Nueleth did prove to be a perfect person to have as an apprentice, she was so young most people didn't take her seriously but the moment she opened her mouth she was capable of making even the most stubborn and reluctant patients back down. She was learning so fast and Elrond was sure that she would be able to work as a healer already before her coming of age. She did prove to have a special talent for obstetrics and he was rather sure that she would specialize as a midwife sooner or later. That was needed for there was a shortage of such, in special in Formenos. She would probably return home when her training was finished and Elrond did think that she very well could become one of the best teachers. The academy was being prepared and for once Elrond felt optimistic. If luck was on his side he would no longer have to deal with so called healers who passed out by the sight of blood. Yes, it would take a few years but eventually they would get there. Then he would take Celebrian for a holiday, a very long and very deserved holiday and if someone tried to stop him well screw them. He deserved it.

Rusa did get a tiny gift from Elrond since it was his treasure hunt which lead to the healer realizing what Taenya's problem was. It was a small brooch formed as a blue rose and Rusa did appreciate it a lot and wore it quite often. He was very proud of it too and told many of how he came to carry it and thus many learned of the case and there were never a new case of that special type of poisoning. It became a thing of the past but the students at the academy did have to read about it, and the rest of Elrond's odd and unusual patients. It is better to be prepared than to be caught off guard when the strange and unexpected decide to strike.


	13. A matter of spirit

Chapter 13 A matter of spirit

The streets of Valmar were crowded, it was in the middle of the afternoon rush were everybody were busy getting whatever they needed before returning home to their families and the streets were filled with small shops and elves moving to and fro. The weather was very hot and this summer had been rather warm and dry and most preferred to stay indoors until the worst of the heat had ended. The sun was setting and soon the more cool air from the coast would bring a blessed relief to everybody. The huge square in the middle of the city in front of the royal palace was also packed with people and some elflings did run around and played like kids do everywhere. Right now the little gang was playing hide and seek and the older kids tried to keep an eye on the younger ones. There were no dangers there but kids are kids and one can never be too sure.

The elflings had been left there to play by their parents who were shopping for groceries and the group did consist of about twenty young ones, from the age of about ten to fifty. There was a huge fountain in the middle of the square and it was very shallow and rather safe to play in. Some of the elflings were wading through it to cool themselves off and with the sharp eyes of their elder siblings watching them it was okay. The small mobile shops were placed in rows which created corridors and it was easy to get lost in the crowd. Here you could get everything from jewellery to live poultry and fresh meat and the smells and sounds did create a cacophony of epic proportions. Some of the king's soldiers did patrol the area and elves were crowding in front of the shops which sold fresh juice. The elflings were running around and laughing and they added to the noise with squeals and shouts. At the end of the square was a gate through which every little thing they sold there had to be brought, it was not very wide and only small wagons could enter and only before the shops opened in the morning and after they shut them in the evening.

The guards who stood there were leaning on their spears, praying that the last hours of their guard duty would pass by quickly. It was boring to just stand there in the heat, wearing the uniform and the light armour they really didn't need and worse than that, it was bloody hot too. One of the guards was wetting his lips, dreaming of the huge glass of cold white wine he was going to get the moment guard duty ended, it would be so sweet. The uniform felt like a sauna by now and he was afraid of a heat stroke. The gate was turned towards the sun and thus became a baking oven rather fast. Some late customers were scurrying by them to get groceries for their dinners and the other guard moaned, his feet were swelling and he had gotten new boots just two days prior and they were a wee bit too tight, hadn't had time to stretch yet. He cussed and bowed down to adjust his socks, he wasn't supposed to move but damn it, he was in pain and how could he keep an vigilant eye on the crowd when his feet were aching like a goddamn Oliphant had stepped on them? He didn't really know what an Oliphant was but it was something huge right?

Thus he failed to see the source of the sudden uproar which spread through the narrow street leading up to the gate, he just heard screams and crashes and when he straightened up again it was too late. The other guard threw himself to the side and avoided the danger just barely but the guard with the bad feet didn't have time to move and he was thrown into the wall with a sickening thud. The wagon pulled by a panic stricken mule was swinging from one side to the other and in this crowded area it was a weapon of mass destruction. The mule was a huge one, the type bred to haul heavy loads and the animal was beyond afraid, it was completely out of control since the cap which usually protected the head from the heat had moved and now it was both pinching the sensitive ears and blinding it. The bit had been twisted too and pinched both its tongue and its gums and the animal ran in blind panic. The wagon was light, it didn't contain much and thus the mule could run like lightning and it did plough into the crowd like a missile thrown by a trebuchet. Elves are fast and agile but there were no way to go to get out of the way, and the wagon wheels were heavy and clad with metal.

The mule was heading straight for the fountain and it did only get even more scared by the screams and shouts. It was kicking and bucking as it ran since the harness was twisted and the wagon did swing from one side to the other, all the time. Countless were hit and thrown aside and the mule and the wagon rammed the group of elflings like a war hammer. Shrill cries filled the air and the mule hit the edge of the fountain with its front legs and flipped forwards, the momentum carried the animal forwards and it did a somersault, the wagon landing more or less on top of it. Both front legs were broken and the animal was screaming, horrible shrieks which were even worse than those of the injured elves. Then there was silence, a terrible eerie silence which lasted for several heartbeats before anyone managed to think again.

One of the elflings did scramble to his feet, he was so very cold and he felt terrible, he knew he was hurt and he wanted his nana and his ada but they were not there. Ilvarion was fifteen summers old and a very quiet kid, also a very smart one and he was not very good at dealing with new situations. He tried to understand what it was which had happened, he saw the dying mule and his friends and he knew he had to get help. He heard someone calling his name and turned around, it was a very tall and very beautiful looking male with sorrowfilled eyes and a smooth voice and he was asking for Ilvarion to follow him but the elfling knew that he couldn't, he had to get help. What was it that ada had said? That the healer could help those in need? He knew where the healer lived, ada had told him and he turned around and ran, it was odd for he sort of ran through fog but that didn't matter, he had to get to the healer, now! He knew he was hurt even if he didn't feel much pain and he ignored the calls of that tall male. He just ran, in sheer panic.

Elrond was busy, the last days had been rather hectic for the heat brought some new challenges and he had been treating everything from dehydrated toddlers to city guards with heat strokes. The helmets and uniforms were designed way before the darkening and hadn't been changed and the light from the trees hadn't held that much warmth. Now the design was outdated but the kings preferred to stick to the things of old, too bad. Right now he was working on something a bit more mundane, a roof fetcher who had taken a plunge from a half finished roof and twisted his ankle rather badly. The joint was huge and blue and throbbing and the poor ellon was in serious agony. Elrond finished washing the injury with fresh athelas to reduce the swelling and gave the ellon some tea made from herbs which reduced pain. The elf was swearing like a sailor and sweating and Elrond shook his head in compassion. The heat didn't make anything any better, at all!

He washed his hands and told Elladan and Elrohir to help the poor chap get back home when there was a sort of chill seeping through the air, he raised his head and wondered where in the name of Ea that came from? Had someone opened the door to the cold cellar? They stored some ice down there, wrapped in tarp and covered by saw dust and it was very precious so the door had to be kept shut at all times. He spun around to find the door, close it and give the culprit a real tongue lashing and then he froze and stared. An elfling stood in the door, a small one with long blonde hair and pretty blue eyes and he had blood trickling down his face and his chest had an odd shape, it didn't look natural at all. But the odd thing was that Elrond could see the wall behind the kid, through him!

Elrond had never been psychic, not in the common sense of the word and he gasped and staggered backwards, he was staring at a spirit and he didn't really know what to do. This elfling had died a terrible death, that was apparent so what was he doing there? He should be at Namo's now, safe and guarded. Elrond tried to get a grasp of things, to calm himself down. The elfling blinked. "You are the healer yes?"

The voice was hollow and faint, as if it came from somewhere far away. "Yes, I am, sweet little one, what has happened?"

The elfling was sucking on his lower lip, almost sobbing. "They are hurt, you have to help them, so many are hurt"

Elrond felt cold. "Where, who? What has happened?"

The elfling wailed, the sound was creepy, it made Elrond want to plug his ears, forever! "The city, the town square, it was a wagon, you have to help them!"

Elrond gasped, a wagon? He knew how packed the streets would be at this time of the day, he tried to think fast. "Little one, I will try. But you…"

The elfling tried to bow his head, the chest moved in a way that was just grotesque as he did and Elrond felt a bit nauseous, the wagon wheel had to have passed straight over this poor little one, crushing him. "I want to help, there is this creepy one calling my name but I cannot go to him, he isn't ada or nana and I want my ada and nana"

Elrond realised what this was, the poor little thing didn't realize that he was dead, that he was just a spirit, disembodied. "Little one, I cannot help you, you see, your body is still there, where it happened"

The elfling shook his head. "But I am here, please, you have to go, they need you"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Right, I will be ready in a few minutes"

He ran out of the door and knew that he couldn't do anything for this kid, he needed to see that he was dead before he could be helped to move on. He shouted at Elladan and Elrohir and his apprentices. Luckily they were all there now, and he shouted orders. They obeyed, they had no idea of how he knew but they didn't doubt him and Elladan got the harness on their horses and hitched up the light wagon while the apprentices had to fill the wagon with all sorts of supplies. A runaway wagon through a crowd? That could mean all sorts of horrible injuries and Elrond felt cold sweat running down his back even in this heat.

The dead elfling was following them, Dan and Ro saw him too and they were pale like sheets, Elrond wished that Namo could come there and collect the tiny soul for this was both creepy and a bit unnerving to say the least. Elrond got up on his horse and Dan took the drivers seat and made the horses gallop right out of the gate, the wagon was a swift one and their horses very good and well rested. The rest of them rode behind it towards the city and they were worried, getting there would take hours, even with this breakneck speed.

At the square the situation had gone from bad to worse, a guard had killed the mule with a swift stab of his sword but now the situation became clear and it was dire. At least fifty elves were wounded to some degree and the local healer was in tears. She was an elleth who had never even left Aman and she didn't know how to deal with trauma like this at all. She tried to do a sort of triage and divided the wounded into groups, the most severely wounded were divided from those with minor injuries and she was in tears. There were crushed bones, amputated limbs, ghastly cuts and fractures and the screams could have made anyone go mad. She was overwhelmed and in shock and all she could do was spinning around herself trying to do something.

The guard had been called, the square was cleared of everybody who didn't have to be there but it only added to the mayhem for now hundreds of elves arrived and were terrified since their loved ones had been at the square at the time of the accident and they couldn't find them and wanted to enter to look for them. The guards had a heck of a job trying to keep the nervous crowd at bay. The fountain was red with the blood from the dead mule and it was a grotesque scene. An officer did pull pieces of crashed stores aside and stared down at the body of an elfling, it was bloody and torn and he turned around and spewed. This was worse than anything he had ever experienced. He staggered back and one of the soldiers passed out, he just fell like had been shot in the head. "Someone, send for Elrond, he is the only healer who can deal with this!"

The elf who spoke was one of the salesmen, he had a huge gash along his arm and had added a tourniquet all on his own. The officer was sweating. "That will take at least five hours, most here will be dead by the time he is reaching us"

An elleth was screaming constantly, and some elflings sat in a cluster, all pale and in shock and most rather bloody. The hooves and the wagonwheels had been wreaking havoc through the dense crowd. "Cannot anyone send a dove, or better, a hawk?"

The officer tried to think clearly. "Send three runners to the king, tell him to send his fastest hawks."

Then suddenly the air shimmered and a very tall regal figure appeared there, clad in black and silver and with a noble and saddened face. The officer gasped and bowed his head, a vala, here?!

Namo tried to smile. "Elrond has been warned already, he is on his way. The spirit of one of the dead has refused to heed my call and is instead at Elrond's place. The peredhel and his crew are driving towards us as we speak. "

The officer swallowed hard, nobody expect to meet the doomsman while still drawing breath. Namo sighed. "So much meaningless death, I have taken care of all the deceased, except that one soul. The poor little one doesn't realize he is dead. "

The officer was swallowing hard. "We do need even more help, so many…"

Namo nodded. "I have warned my brother, some of his maiar are coming but Elrond will arrive earlier. Make things ready for him, get all the debris out of the way, find a clean room in which he can do his job"

The officer snapped out of it. "Right, of course, will do, I am right at it!"

Namo turned around, his robes moving in a wind nobody saw. "And clear the roads to this place, they are driving like devils!"

The officer was too stunned to do anything but obey, soon he was screaming orders and the road from the city gates was cleared of all traffic.

Elrond and the other arrived just after nightfall, the horses were panting and sweating and he was confused when he was met by a troop of the kings own cavalry which were sent to escort them. He got a fresh horse and they raced the last stretch back to the city, how did they know that they were coming? The officer had found a huge warehouse which nobody used anymore and they had cleared it of dust and debris and some volunteers had even gathered water, blankets and cots. Elrond jumped off the horse and stared at the square, it was still possible to see exactly where the wagon had gone for he saw wheeltracks made from blood. It was a ghastly sight. Elladan and Elrohir stared at the huge amount of wounded and dead and Elrond had to swallow hard, the local healer had been busy with those who were suffering from minor things but those who were really hurt had been put aside. This city did need a real healer, and that should have happened yesterday!

Elrond yelled at his sons and soon he got an overview of the situation, it was ghastly. Some had died and had he been there before they could have been saved for sure and so many were in agony. He started to do his own triage and found that the local healer had misdiagnosed several of the wounded elves, some were way worse off than they were aware off and he knew he had some tough hours ahead of him. He gave the less difficult cases to his sons and apprentices and started on the really nasty ones himself. He was glad they had brought almost all of his equipment. The first he started with was an ellon who had been there to buy salad and he had a nasty injury to his gut, some part of the wagon must have hit him very hard and torn into his body and Elrond knew that a human being would have been dead already. He fixed the wound and had to ignore the moans and screams from the poor elf, he didn't have time to administer any painkillers.

For a short time there were no sounds to be heard there, just moans, screams and short hissed orders when Elrond needed something out of reach. He had fixed about four patients when he encountered the first really bad one, an elleth. She was unconscious and both her legs were smashed. One had to be amputated but the really bad thing was that she was pregnant, and rather heavily so. Elrond checked the legs, the wagon wheel had gone over them straight underneath the knees and one leg had to have been sheltered somehow for it wasn't broken, just torn and bruised. The other on the other hand was simply reduced to smithereens.

But he was halfway through the amputation when he noticed something new, she was bleeding and badly too and it didn't come from her wounds, a quick check confirmed his worst suspicions, it was the baby. Elrond swore so bad Elladan had to look up from his own bloody job to just stare, this elleth had lost much blood already and she wouldn't survive loosing more. And what about the infant? How far along was she? Elrond stared at one of the guards stationed by the entrance. "There is a pregnant elleth here, find her family. I need to know all that there is about her, no

w!"

The guard ran out of the door as if he had all the dragons of Morgoth at his tail and Elrond finished the amputation and sewed the other leg, it was no doubt about it, the birth had started and the body wasn't ready for it, not at all. She was a tiny thing too, with narrow hips and Elrond had a bad feeling. This wouldn't end well. He just kept working and tried to save as many as possible but it ate at him that he probably wouldn't be able to save this female. After about half an hour the guard returned, with a panting ellon in tow. The poor elf was pale and sweaty and his eyes were enormous, Elrond sensed his fear right away. This had to be the elleth's husband and he gritted his teeth together. Wonderful, a freaked out male who most likely would go apeshit on him. The ellon let out a wail and threw himself down by the cot and Elrond rolled his eyes, his usual patience had gone with the wind now, he had to act fast and forget about being compassionate and sensible. "What is your name and who is she? How far along is she?"

The ellon sobbed. "Oh Eru, she didn't come home to prepare dinner and I got so worried and then this guard came and…."

Elrond sighed. "I understand, again, how far along?"

The ellon gasped. "Eleven months, she is due in four weeks. Her name is Anarille, I am Hedrion."

Elrond took a deep breath, eleven months? Then the baby could survive, he had to save it and the elleth but how? He had to think really fast. Some elves appeared at the door, crying and looking distraught. Elladan ran over to them and then he returned to his father. "It is parents looking for their children"

Elrond swore under his breath. Damnation, that too. At least three elflings had died there and the one who warned him was among them. Elladan sort of guided the parents over to the place where the bodies were placed and soon cries of sorrow filled the air. The parents of the one who had appeared for Elrond stood there grieving their son and Elrond jumped when the spirit suddenly appeared again, staring at his parents. Apparently they didn't see him and the little one was obviously confused. "I am here, ada, nana, what are you doing?"

Elrond felt a surge of compassion and Namo too appeared once more, he wouldn't give up on a child, no matter what. The doomsman did have a lot of compassion for the dead and the little ones in special. The spirit was walking over to where his parents stood and stared down, saw his own shattered body, the elfling let out a shocked wail and Elrond had to walk over. He saw the little one, it could be because he had carried Vilya for so long or it could be because of his mixed blood, he had some maia in him after all. "Little one, you are…no longer alive. You have to go with lord Namo now, you will be safe with him and one day you may return to your parents."

The elfling was sucking on his lower lip. "I don't understand?!"

Elrond swallowed the lump in his throat. "That is alright, and understandable but your parents cannot reach you now. You have to go, it is alright, it is safe"

Namo smiled and reached down, his hand was very white and looked strong. The elfling hesitated and tilted his head. "Can you tell ada and nana that I will come back?"

Elrond nodded. "I will"

The little one took Namo's hand. "Alright then, but…you have to help everybody!"

Elrond nodded " I am trying"

Namo and the ghost did disappear and Elrond ran back to the elleth,, the parents of the dead elfling just stood there, a bit confused. Elladan would have to explain this to them, later on. The elleth was bleeding still and her heart was fluttering in her chest. Elrond tried to think fast. Namo wouldn't claim even more spirits this day, that would be unfair. He took a deep breath and went through everything he had learned. She needed more blood but how? Then he remembered a procedure some mortal physicians had tried back in Ennor and even though it had been a failure he thought he knew why. He grasped the husband by the shoulder. "Listen, you wife need more blood, does she have any sort of close kin living nearby? Real family?"

He nodded. "Yes? Her sister, she shares a house with us, she is waiting back home…"

Elrond knew he had to take a huge chance now, but there wasn't anything else he could do. "Get her, hurry. She may be able to save Anarille"

The husband ran off and Elrond examined the elleth swiftly. The baby wasn't ready to be born, it was in the wrong position with the bottom down and the elleth wasn't ready for birthing it either. She wasn't opened up at all and yet there was no other option. He knew that the loss of blood could indicate that the placenta had come loose and then the baby would die soon. The husband returned after a short while with a panting elleth in tow, she was in tears and Elrond sat her down in a chair. "Listen, are you afraid of seeing blood?"

The elleth shook her head. "No? But…can you save her?"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, maybe. But I do need your help."

The female stared him straight in the eye. "I will do anything to help my sister, please"

Elrond found a small bowl and gathered some blood from Anarille, then he punctured the sisters little finger and mixed some drops of blood. He waited for a while, nothing happened. The blood didn't cloth and he knew they shared the same blood type, it was safe. He found a small hose and two syringes and started to prepare a blood transfusion, he knew of nobody else who would try this. The sister was a bit pale. "Can you get the baby out?"

Elrond waved his hand at Elrohir who was available at the moment. "Yes. I think I can. But this will be a very dramatic thing to watch, so I want to give your sister blood first"

The husband was shivering as Elrond did make sure that Anarille got at least a litre of blood and by then her sister was pale and shaky too. He sent the two of them off as he prepared to do something he had barely ever tried before. It was too little room to turn the baby and since the mother wasn't physically ready there would be no point in it either. He had to cut the baby out but time was of the essence now. This had to be done in the exact order or things could go very wrong. He ordered Elrohir to help him while Elladan and the others kept working on the other injured elves. There were still many who needed help.

Elrohir brought a jar of thin silk thread and several needles and Elrond stared at his son. "You will have to be ready to start sewing the moment I tell you to, I trust that your mother have taught you well?"

Elrohir nodded, a bit sweaty. Celebrian had taught both the lads embroidery, much to their despair, they had hated it. "I am ready"

Elrond bared the belly which did look bruised and there were some cuts there too. He just hoped that the baby hadn't been injured by the impact. He took a deep breath and grasped one of his best scalpels, he knew where to lay the cut and had to stop for a second to steady his hand. Then he cut and did it without hesitation, the surgeon who had taught him so very long ago had been very strict, one straight line, not several smaller cuts, that meant a larger wound and more chances of infection. He cut through skin and muscle and through the wall of the uterus and into it. Then he reached inside and grasped onto the baby and pulled it out, there was hardly any amniotic fluid left and that told him this was serious indeed. The baby was light blue and he smacked it and nothing happened.

No pulse, Eru curse it. He smacked the baby hard over the rump and shook it gently, supporting the neck. Nothing. The umbilical cord wasn't pulsing, the placenta had really come loose and who knew for how long the little one had been without the blood from its mother? He smacked it again, blew air into the nostrils. Nothing. He swore, feeling terribly stressed out. This couldn't be true, he had to save this little one. Elrohir was already stitching up the mother after having removed the placenta and it had a huge bruise to it, the elleth had to have been trampled by the mule.

Then there was a small shivering motion and he rubbed the baby's chest frantically, blew more air into the tiny lungs and then a faint wail spread through the air, he let out a huge sigh of relief. He kept massaging the infant until the breathing was steady and the skin was pink instead of blue. One of the apprentices came with water and some cloth and they bathed and wrapped the baby. It was a small girl and Elrond was so relived he could have cried. Now the elleth too was breathing very well and she appeared to be out of immediate danger and he delivered the baby to a very proud and weeping dad who couldn't keep his eyes off his little one.

But the battle wasn't over yet, Elrond had to work on with the other injured elves and he lost two that night. One elleth who had a collapsed lung and a badly fractured back and a young ellon who had been run over and had severe internal injuries. He hated it, he hated losing a patient to death but there was nothing he could do, he took solace in the fact that he could save some if not all and when they were done the sun was already high in the skies and the city was awakening to a new day. Someone were clearing away the mess and Elrond was shaking with fatigue. The carcass of the mule was being removed and so was the debris it had left behind. The owner was a salesman who had tied it to a water trough as he went inside to get something to drink and a stray dog had spooked it. This had been a tragic accident and not something anyone could be blamed for.

Elrond was glad when the elleth woke up again, she was weak and confused but asked for her little one right away and he let the small family have a private moment. It warmed his heart that this did have a good ending after all. Anarille had lost a leg but she was not going to fade because of that, not when she had a kid to take care off and Elrond knew that they could make some good prosthetic legs now. The other leg healed just fine so at least that was a good thing.

When he did exit the warehouse which had served as hospital he met one of the maiar of Namo and a couple of those who served Irmo, they were taking care of the families of those who had lost dear ones and one of the maiar bowed and smiled at the healer. "The elfling who warned you, he is gonna be returned to his parents rather fast. Namo doesn't think he need to stay in the halls all that long, he has come to terms with what happened and can be re-embodied within weeks."

Elrond smiled. "I am very glad, he was brave and he was thinking fast. "

The maia grinned. "Indeed, I think you have a future healer there Elrond, I don't know how but something tells me so"

Elrond bowed his head. "Nothing would please me more, we do need more healers, good ones"

The maia chuckled. "Indeed you do"

Elrond stayed until all the wounded ones could return home and the square was scrubbed clean of blood. He visited the new family and the parents told him that they wanted name their daughter Elloriel in his honour, something he was almost blushing to hear.

Two days afterwards he was granted an audience with the king and Ingwe was meeting him in the great hall with a far from royal hug and a very grateful expression on his face. "My friend, many of our people can thank you for their health and life now, so , is there something I can do for you?"

Elrond took a deep breath. "As a matter of fact…"

Two months later a new building was being constructed not far from the royal palace, it would be a combined hospital and university and Elrond wanted it to be a place which co worked with the new one in Tirion. All the greater cities within Aman ought to get a hospital and he would make sure that everybody who got educated there learned real stuff, not just how to cure hiccups with water.

The little one who had warned him returned to his family within a year and like the maia had predicted, he wanted to become a healer and became one of the first students at the new university when it was finished thirty years later. And he did become a rather famous healer too, capable of things not even Elrond would try to do. Since he knew death he could act calmly when others couldn't and Elrond was very proud of him. The baby born that day became a very famous singer and Elrond did meet her several times, he was glad he had been able to save her, her voice was a real gift from the valar and Elrond did go to listen to her quite often.

The streets which lead to the great squares were closed off with solid barriers now, and carriages were not allowed into them in daytime at all. It meant more work for those transporting goods but it did mean no more accidents like this one. And that was indeed not a bad thing.


	14. The least expected cause

Chapter 14 : The least expected cause….

The city was very quiet this night, the darkness had fallen hours ago and only some lonely dogs and a somewhat lovesick cat did break the silence. The main street of Tirion was rarely empty though, not even at night. Some half drunk elves were staggering back towards their homes after a very moist evening at the local tavern and now they were trying to sing and walk at the same time, which they found difficult to say the least. One of them had to stop rather suddenly, he felt like he had to puke and cursed the fact that the owner of the tavern had gotten some new wine that evening, a very sweet and strong one from Alqualonde and it had become popular. So popular most of the guests had left completely drunk. He leaned against a fence and fought to keep his dinner down, feeling very dizzy indeed.

The feeling slowly let go of him, it was cool this night and that helped and the fresh air was a relief after hours in the densely packed tavern, they had had some fun but now it was time to head home. He did look down and noticed something, the fence was old and broken in places and here and there he could see pieces of pottery between the old boards. It was the glazed type with very nice colours and he got curious, reached out and pried a cup loose from the mass of stacked ceramics. Odd, had there been a pottery shop there before? It was a back garden and the pile of ceramics had been completely covered by vines and old leaves. It did look abandoned and he stared at the cup, it was very nice and it had a small crack in one side but otherwise from that it was ok and he grinned and put it in his pocket. He didn't think that anyone would miss just one cup and it was pretty.

As he got back home he placed the cup in the cupboard of the kitchen and forgot about it and it stayed there in the cupboard for almost an entire yeni before his wife decided to get rid of all the old stuff they didn't use and gave it away to a friend. And thus the cup started wandering through the city and in the end it became the property of a young newly wedded couple out of Valmar. The beautiful cup was the favourite of the young wife and she used it almost every day.

Being the leader of a university was like trying to herd a whole flock of hares, Elrond had barely been so tired before in his long life and he was glad his sons had more or less taken over his own clinic for this was exhausting on a whole new level. They had three classes now and about thirty students in each and he was the one who had to show them procedures and teach them about the different medicines and their effect upon the body. When they opened the university they had received more than three hundred students from all over Eldamar, female and male and of almost every age too, some weren't even adults yet but eager to learn nonetheless and Elrond already knew what would happen.

In the span of just two months they were left with ninety, the rest had quit simply because they didn't have it in them to become healers. Some were too empathic, they couldn't face the pain of others without feeling ill themselves. Others were too distant and thought of the status the job gave more than the patient and then they had that huge fraction who simply couldn't see blood without passing out. Some of the students who were left were war veterans from middle earth and used to seeing shocking stuff and others had been healers back there. Many of them were of sindar or avarin origin and he did anticipate great things from them all. He had to grin, some of the first procedures they had to learn had really separated the bold from the weak of stomach. An elleth from Valmar had stepped on a piece of glass and cut herself rather badly and oddly enough the wound had become infected and had to be opened and cleaned. The smell of puss had caused a mass exodus and only those of a somewhat pragmatic nature had managed to stay.

Then they got a kid handed over to them, a four year old elfling who had been playing with the family dog and gotten covered with nasty ticks. Elrond hated those tiny bloodsuckers and wanted to ask the valar if they had meant to be or if this was something Melkor had managed to conjure up, just as a menace to bother all living beings. Then they had to fix some broken teeth, some broken bones and finally they were left with the ones who really did know how to stay in control of themselves and think about the patient and not their own discomfort. Elrond was proud of them all, he had managed to get copies of the best books he could get his hands upon when it came to healing and the amount of knowledge they all had to learn was huge but nobody complained and he had even given some lectures regarding the health of humans even if there weren't any others there than Tuor. Who knew, maybe one day there would be mortals welcomed to the land of the valar and then they wanted to be prepared.

He loved this job, it was hard indeed but it gave him so much back in return and he knew that Celebrian was proud of him, she often bragged about the university and he knew that they had enough students to keep going for many long years. The list of elves who were waiting for a chance to go there was long, very long. There hadn't been that much to do for a while, just minor incidents and the worst case they had received for the last two years had been two sailors who had been trapped between the hulls of two boats and had broken ribs and cuts. It was good like that, Elrond could spend the time filling his student's heads with information and he often used tales of his past to make sure that the students did understand his point.

He was studying the students very carefully, being good at healing wasn't enough to graduate from this place as a certified healer, you had to be good with people too and some did lose their place there since they weren't . He had given some students the task of treating a small toddler with a broken foot and one of the Ellyn was way too rough and didn't act in the proper manner at all. He managed to make the kid terrified and someone else had to take over.

Strangely enough it was those who had been born and raised in Aman who were most likely to fail thus, the ones who had lived in middle earth and helped out on the bloody battlefields were way more compassionate and understanding even though they had been forced into what he would describe as extreme wartime surgery. One who has never suffered cannot truly understand suffering and Elrond did cross out names as they all were tested. Those left had to be the best of the best and he wouldn't let anyone graduate who couldn't understand why.

Then something did happen, a sort of sickness spread among the livestock of Tirion and the surrounding areas and it left everybody puzzled. The animals were acting as if they were drunk, some were drooling and losing their balance and others acted aggressively or just laid there, refusing to eat. Nobody had seen anything like this and the healers were asked to help find the cause for this problem. Elrond was stunned, the animals were very sick, both cows and sheep and goats and even some horses and the farmers were in despair because they couldn't afford to lose their animals and they were like family members too. Some sheep did die while the larger animals just were very ill and understanding this was very hard indeed. Elrond was glad it was just animals which got sick, he had no idea of what this was.

Then the first elves did get ill, and now it had gone from a worrisome but minor problem to something which made the kings send messengers to the university, begging for the solution to be found fast. The sick elves all had stomach pain and the symptoms did resemble those of the animals a lot and Elrond started to understand that there was a connection somewhere, but what? His students were involved in this, several heads do think better than just one and they checked everything they could think off until one of the students, a very clever avarin elleth found the common factor. All the sick elves had been eating a sort of cheese made from both cow and sheep milk with some goat added and it had to be the milk.

Then Elrond sent the herders off to each pasture to check them for anything out of the ordinary and after some days of frantic searching they found a small herb nobody had bothered with before. It had spread over the years and Elrond did check it out by feeding it to a cow which got sick after a few days. The culprit was clear and they paid some elflings to rip up every specimen they found. The herders told that the farmers had used animal dung to fertilize the pastures since the grass had become less rich and green over the time. Clearly that had made this seemingly innocent herb grow larger than before and now the animals would eat also that when they grazed. Elrond was glad they had solved this little mystery, now they knew the cause and even though there were a few more cases of sick animals it was no big problem anymore, simply because they knew it could be fixed easily.

So when a messenger arrived at the university clinic asking for help Elrond wasn't that alarmed at all. Some young elleth had taken ill and judging by the symptoms he just assumed that it was the same disease which had bothered so many others. He told the messenger to bid the elleth stay away from cheese and milk for some days and eat some light soup. The messenger left and Elrond didn't expect to see him again. A few days went by and then the same ellon did show up again, this time he did carry a note with him. Elrond read it and his puzzlement changed to worry as he found out that the elleth in question was with child, and that she still felt sick and experienced some nasty symptoms.

Elrond didn't really want to leave the university but knew that he had to check this out, it could be something more sinister and he bid the other teachers keep the students on a tight leash while he was away. He rode to the home of the patient in the afternoon and the streets were packed everywhere, it took a while to get to his destination and when he stopped the horse in front of the building it was getting dark. The young ellon who opened the door did look nervous and he couldn't be more than a few handful of decades over his first hundred years. He bowed deeply and let Elrond inn and the healer saw that this house was small and still very nice. The couple couldn't be that rich but they had managed to create a very cosy home and there was a scent of herbs there which told him that the lady of the house made a living making perfumes.

The wife was clearly ill, she was pale and she was accompanied by two other ellith who both looked worried. Elrond did present himself and they all got up, he was shocked to see that the wife was in her latest stage of pregnancy. She couldn't have much time left and she had problems moving due to her huge belly. Elrond sat down and smiled at her, she too was young and he guessed that the other two females were her sister and perhaps a sister in law. She did try to smile. "I am sorry to bother you my lord, but I feel just terrible, I am sick all the time and my bones ache and I feel so hot"

He reached out and touched her, she did indeed feel very warm and he did notice something else too, her skin was rather flushed and her hair was rather thin and it lacked the shine it ought to have. The ache did make him worried and he found that her heart was beating rather fast too and she appeared to be very tired indeed. He gave her something which would make her sleep calmly and then he sat down to interview her husband. The young ellon was named Maladar and he was working as an assistant to the local baker, he was a very polite and quiet person and Elrond had a feeling of having to drag each and every word out of the guy. But Sierel had started feeling ill many days ago and it had only been a minor nuisance at first, a sort of belly ache and she had had those before, the baby did not leave much room for her guts so it was to expect. Then it had gotten worse until she barely managed to eat anything at all, the only thing she managed to keep down now was orange juice and some thin soup made from broth and oats.

Elrond got even more worried, she needed food and Maladar was trying to tempt her with her favourite foods but to no prevail. She couldn't eat at all. Elrond started to wonder if this was a very bad case of the problem which had bothered them earlier but she hadn't eaten any cheese for a long time, nor had she drunk any milk. It as a mystery for sure. She was making perfume for a living and that can include contact with dangerous chemicals so he went into the shed where she did her job and checked everything but found nothing which ought to make an elf sick. Her work place was squeaky clean and well organized, it wasn't very likely that she had gotten into contact with anything by accident.

Elrond searched through the food larder, through the closets and everything but nothing was out of the ordinary and then he asked everybody if she had gone somewhere unusual lately, and done something she usually didn't do. The answer was that Sierel had stayed at home for over three months, she hadn't left the house at all since her feet swelled when she walked. This was getting more and more confusing and Elrond was really nervous now, the rapid heartbeat was abnormal for sure and he had encountered edain with eclampsia but never an elleth. He was offered to stay there for the night and he accepted, he didn't want to leave this patient until he knew what the problem was. He was given a guestroom on the second floor, it was barely room for a bed there but he did sleep rather well in spite of that. The place was quiet and not too warm and he was tired too.

The next morning he was treated with a very generous breakfast and he felt a bit ashamed, he hadn't yet helped this poor elleth in any manner. She was pale and sweaty and she managed to eat some broth and juice but nothing else, Elrond saw that her skin was very pale in many places and it had to be some sort of reaction, it couldn't be a disease? Elves don't get sick, easy as that. If she had been a human being he would have checked her kidneys and also her other bodily systems but she was one of the firstborn damn it, not susceptible to such maladies. But she was getting weaker by the day and that was rather obvious, so what the heck was the cause? Elrond was even checking her clothes but they were alright, no dangerous dyes had been used. He did give her some tea with a herb which did stop nausea and she did drink it but it didn't seem as if she got any better at all. He was ready to tear his hair out by now. That evening he decided that she had to be moved to the university, he had better medicine there and there could be the possibility that one of the other healers there had encountered something similar. They got hold of a carriage and the journey was done very carefully and gently.

She was given a bed in one of the best rooms there and her husband and sister didn't leave her side even for a few moments, there were always someone there by her side and she was watched constantly. The other healers were just as confused as Elrond, nobody had seen anything like this before and they all got very worried. She was due in just a few days and already very weak. What could this be? Some even suggested the use of dark magic and Elrond scoffed and almost threw a fit, dark magic in Aman? The thing was that the idea had touched also his mind. The avarin elves knew of such, they had seen it often enough in the old world, powers which could be brought forth with the sole intention of creating harm, often used by those weak of mind and grasped by jealousy.

But Sierel hadn't got any enemies and everybody adored her, she was truly a very sweet person and they knew of nobody who would have wanted to claim Maladar before he met her and married her. It was a mystery and Elrond spent most of the day going through the library, desperately searching for any clues as to why this was happening. He found none, and even if they tried to give her as much soup as possible much was regurgitated and she did have a bad case of the runs too. It was a mystery and then she suddenly got even worse, her body was almost burning and she was lethargic and confused and as if that wasn't bad enough her labour started. There was no way to stop it now, the baby was due and Elrond feared the worst. Sierel was too weak now and her body wasn't ready by far.

It took a long time before it really started, and the contractions were weak, even worse, Elrond couldn't feel the baby's heartbeat and he realized that this would end in tragedy, one way or the other. He thought about a procedure he had done once in middle earth, on a human female. He had cut the baby out of her but she had already been dead and the baby had been alive and he had just managed to save it. Sierel was alive but too weak to survive such a procedure and he had no idea of what had caused her weakness in the first place. Maladar had understood what was going on, he was crying and Sierel was too delirious to understand at all now, Elrond gave her medicine which put her to sleep but helped her body push the baby out and in the early morning hours he delivered a small girl. The baby was dead and had been for a while, he had never seen a dead elven infant before and it felt just horrible. This little one should have had eternity, a good and happy life to look forwards to. It felt so unfair that this was taken from her.

Maladar was beside himself with grief and Elrond did sedate him too, just to make him rest for he was already half asleep from fatigue. Then the healer sat down and wept too, he had never lost a baby like that before, something was terribly wrong with the mother but what? What in Eru's name was the reason for her disease? He had no idea! He went back to the room where she had lain for the last days and helped the servants remove the old bedding, she needed something clean now and he didn't know what to do if she didn't recover. He had heard of cases where the growing fetus sort of attacks the mother's body but never in elves?! The sister had brought some of her personal stuff from their home, clothes, some toiletries and a whole barrel of fresh orange juice, straight from the markets in Tirion. The barrel stood on a table and beside it was some cups and plates the sister had brought too.

Elrond sighed and walked over, the juice had to be warm by now but he poured a little into a cup and took a sip, it was rather tepid, just as he had expected but the healer did frown and looked down at the cup. The juice had a tiny hint of a strange flavour? It was a bit bitter? The oranges were ripe by now but not all and some did mix the ripe ones with oranges which still were a bit sour to add some more flavour to the juice but that particular flavour he had never encountered before. He did lick his lips, the taste was tangy and not pleasant but so weak he doubted that most would even notice it. He put the cup down and shook the barrel before he poured into a new cup. This time the taste was normal, could it be that it had been some dregs at the bottom of the barrel?

He hadn't liked that taste at all, lifted the first cup and took a careful sip again, this time the taste was even more evident and he frowned and blinked. What in heck's name? then he did notice the cup, it was well used, worn and obviously a favourite for the handle was so worn the ceramics itself was visible on the inside of it. It was a pretty blue metallic colour and he had to admire the elegant design. This was pottery made for the upper classes for sure and he wondered how such a cup had ended up in the home of someone of the working class? Then he noticed the crack in it and ran a finger over it, the crack went all the way through the cup but it hadn't made it leak and maybe this was why it had come into the hands of this couple. Some pottery makers did sell their pottery cheap if it was flawed in any ways.

He admired the deep rich colour and wondered how the effect was achieved, he stood by the window as he heard one of the students arrive. It was an ellon from Tirion, a former general who had fought for Fëanor back in middle earth, he was a good student now and learned quickly. He walked over and stared at the cup Elrond held. "Where did you get that?"

Elrond shrugged. "It is the property of the patient and her family, her sister has brought a whole lot of their things over here, probably to make her feel more at home"

The ellon was frowning. "I have seen such pottery before, but it was ages ago. Before the darkening in fact. It was all the craze back then, everybody wanted it and then it became so popular everybody owned some pieces and then it lost its popularity. You couldn't give it away at the end and the ones who made it went bankrupt and had to make something else instead."

Elrond had to grin. "That is a well known tale indeed. I just wonder how they managed to create this lovely metallic sheen?"

The former general shrugged. "I don't know, but I was told they use some sort of mineral and mix it with certain chemicals?"

Elrond frowned. "Really? I have to check this out, when was it that this pottery was so popular?"

The ellon made a grimace. "Ah, probably sixty years before the darkening? "

Elrond swallowed and put the cup down, he had a terrible feeling of having overlooked something crucial. He ran to the library and blessed the fact that he had equipped the library with copies of the royal journals where all major events were carefully recorded and described. He found the book for the right years and opened them with shaking hands, he had to find this and fast.

There it was, several notes, at first the royal household had ordered a lot of this pottery but then they sort of sent most of it off, because it was so common. The potter had complained that everybody wanted it and he couldn't make enough, the minerals he needed for the glaze was rare and hard to come by and had to be dug for. Elrond stared at the words with narrow eyes, then he got up and ran over to the stables and caught hold of one of the servants. He scribbled something onto a piece of parchment and gave it to the young ellon. "Take this to this address and stop for nobody and bring the answer back immediately, do you understand? Tell them Elrond wants the answer"

The servant did look shocked but found a horse and rode out of the gate with great haste and Elrond felt his heart beating hard within his chest, he was onto something, he was sure of it!

After half an hour the servant returned but he wasn't alone, he was shocked to see that both Celebrimbor and his father Curufin had joined him and they did look both curious and concerned. Elrond bowed and Celebrimbor did jump off his horse and tilted his head. "What is this Elrond? Someone using ore for glaze?"

Elrond nodded. "Someone did use ore yes, but what sort of ore and it was mixed with minerals too"

Curufin frowned, he was normally a rather quiet person and didn't speak much but there was a spark of recognition within his eyes. "Oh the pottery which was so popular back in the old days? I haven't seen it for ages, but it was an apprentice of father who invented that glaze"

Elrond took a deep breath. "So, what does it contain?"

Curufin shrugged. "Lead I think? And some rare minerals too, I think they even used a bit mercury to make it"

Elrond felt faint, lead? Mercury? Both were lethal substances so why hadn't anyone gotten sick back then? Everybody had been using that pottery, for decades! What was different from back then? He stared at the two Ellyn and his eyes got large, "Oranges!"

Celebrimbor blinked in confusion. "I beg your pardon?!"

Elrond felt almost giddy. "Oh Eru, there were no oranges back then, they came after the war of wrath. By then the pottery had gone out of fashion."

Curufin didn't look any less intrigued than his son. "I am sorry, I don't understand?"

Elrond was stepping in one place. "Oranges are acidic, very sour. The juice, it eats away at the glaze, it makes the juice poisonous. She has lead poisoning"

Celebrimbor did look shocked. "Can she be healed?"

Elrond was already running back to the infirmary. "Yes, I hope so!"

He was heading for the rooms where they kept the most rare medicine and he found the right one, a very rare mineral. It was the fact that Sierel was pregnant that caused the sudden symptoms, and the fact that she didn't move that much, it had strengthened the poisoning and he had to flush the lead out of her body. The medicine he had would do that, he just hoped that she was strong enough to fight it. She was unconscious but they managed to get some of it into her and he ordered the servants to make sure she drank a lot, but not orange juice, just something sweet like water with honey.

Elrond had already lost one patient and he didn't want to lose the mother too, he could just cross his fingers. As they waited for Sierel to wake up again he sent the students out to the shops and markets and bid them tell everybody that all pottery of that type had to be either thrown away or used for other purposes than being containers for food. Most were rather shocked by the fact that something as seemingly innocent as a cup was the cause of the misery and Maladar promptly threw the cup at the hearth so it broke into a thousand shards. It could never harm anyone again and Elrond had to spend quite some time trying to make the young ellon understand that this wasn't his fault in any way.

Sierel did wake up again after a few days, Elrond did keep her sedated on purpose for her body needed to recover and he knew that she would be in deep grief and that could in itself be very dangerous. He explained why she had been sick and why the baby had died and she was barely able to cope with it but Maladar was extremely supportive and so was her sister. They sort of carried her over the worst of the shock and she did recover although very slowly. Elrond was rather sure that there would be no problems if they wanted to try again later on, the poison would drain from her body now and he put her on a diet which would strengthen her and make her recover faster. Sierel was very sad and yet she had a sort of pragmatic nature and she was practical too. She promised that they would wait for at least a year before they attempted to have a new baby and Elrond was glad, this sort of thing always left long time effects.

He had to teach all the students about poisons now since this had triggered an interest in such topics and he was sure that none of them would forget this ever.

Celebrimbor did in fact manage to find the old storage where the cup originally had been found and moved the entire heap of old pottery to one of the old forges where the whole heap was placed in a furnace and the toxic glaze was burned off. The glaze became a huge lump which was placed in a quarry where it served as a counterweight on one of the huge constructions made to lift blocks of marble out of the quarry itself. So then the lead did find a purpose after all.

Sierel wanted to get back to her old self again fast but it did take almost two years before she was back to full health, but when she finally did recover fully it only took a couple of months before she was on her way with her second pregnancy and Elrond was very proud to be chosen as her private healer. This time there were no problems at all and she and Maladar had a very healthy little lad who made his presence known with a set of unusually strong lungs and a mighty voice. Elrond was sure he one day would become a good singer but as it were the young elf turned out to be a bit timid just like his father and instead he did become a very skilled silversmith with a particular talent for shaping gems. And for the next centuries to come Elrond always checked any new pottery both once and twice before he let anybody within the family use it.


	15. What goes inn

Chapter 15: What goes inn…..

Just on the outskirts of Sirion a sort of suburb had gradually formed, many families did live there and work within the city itself and it did create its own sets of challenges. It wasn't far from the city but still it meant travelling for a bit each day and the king had in his wisdom created a system of transportation which worked just fine, most of the time. A huge wagon would pass through the village four times each hour and pick up people while one returned twice during that time and thus people got too and fro rather easily, unless of course something happened.

One of the families living in one of the smaller settlements made a living selling embroidered cloth and carved wooden utensils, it was a good income but it did require that both the adults of the family did leave each day to go to the markets. It was usually fine, the husbands mother lived nearby and was baby sitting and by now the elflings were almost at that age when they can be left alone, at least for a short time. The oldest was the equivalent of a human twelve years old and the two younger ones were eight and five and did obey their older sister. This very morning the grandmother arrived as usual carrying a basket full of thread and cloth, she usually embroidered during the stay while the kids were playing or embroidering. The older elleth was yawning as she sat down in her usual chair, it had been warm for a while now and it brought a scourge which nobody knew how to deal with, there were marshes to the south of Sirion and marshland means mosquitoes. There had been a whole squadron of the bloodthirsty bastards in her bedroom last night and she hadn't slept much due to this disturbance. The kids were already at play in the backyard and since they were well behaved and very nice they would never leave it unless they were with an adult. She could concentrate on her work and started with yet another yawn. Her son and law daughter had left and the house was rather calm and also comfortably chilly. Here there was a constant wind and it meant no mosquitoes and so the village was spared from the pesky critters. Back in the city everybody were walking around scratching themselves into insanity or so it seemed and the freshly educated healers had their hands full with treating sores and infections caused by unclean fingers and excessive use of fingernails on the itchy spots.

The kids spent the day in bliss, carefree and happy the way all children are in a happy home and the two young ones, an ellon and an elleth were playing mom and dad with her favourite doll as their kid. The older elleth was trying to read, she was learning this a bit late, most elflings knew how to read and write by the age of five but the family hadn't been able to afford books nor a teacher until recently. Now she was eagerly ploughing through the pages of an old fairy tale and even if the words sometimes did switch their position she did catch the meaning. The house was so quiet and pleasant and before long the grandmother was asleep. Her embroidery in her lap and she was snoring lightly, the warmth did take its toll of everybody these days, even the hardy elves. The rivers and ponds were filled with bathing elflings and adults too and even the cattle and sheep did descend upon the water ways like a migrating horde, desperate to chill down.

The day went by and the kids did discover that their grandmother was sleeping still, their parents would soon return home and their grandmother would always make dinner so it was ready for their return, The eldest stared at the sleeping elleth, waking her up would be the normal thing to do but she knew that grandma hadn't slept well for a long time and she was twelve, she was almost an adult, well, at least she knew how to read and write now and that was an adult thing to do right? She could prepare dinner, she had seen grandma do it hundreds of times and it couldn't be that hard now could it? She gathered her siblings and started giving them orders and they reacted with zeal, after all, this was fun and they were sure that their parents would be so thrilled to find out that the kids could do such an important task. They would impress their parents, yes, and make a most delicious meal!

Before long the girls were in full swing, and the little lad was doing what his father usually did when he got the fire going, it was no big deal, easy really. He couldn't really understand why only ada was allowed to use the stove. The girls gathered the ingredients, grandma had a book of recipes and Elarian, the oldest, had picked a couple. She would make a stew, a pie and also a dessert. This would be so easy for the steps were all explained, it would really be a piece of pie. The food larder was in the basement where it was cool and dark and food stayed fresh for a long time and Elarian was singing as she gathered the things she needed. They were short on flour but she found an extra bag in a corner and it did smell a bit funny but it was dry so it had to be alright. The milk was a bit bluish in colour but she didn't think the colour mattered at all. After a while she was in full swing cooking and her younger sister was paying attention to everything she did, in awe of her sister's obvious skills.

When the parents did return home the table was decorated and the food ready, the kitchen had a certain funny aroma nobody had come across before but the food didn't look bad at all and they allowed the grandmother to sleep inn, she needed it and had been working so hard lately too. The fact that the food did have a more than a little weird flavour was pushed aside by the proud and by now very hungry parents, their little ones had really done a good job and were being praised as the family ate. The dessert was so sweet it almost made the father gag but he did eat his portion not to disappoint his little ones and the mom did praise the pie even if the crust was rock hard and the filling the consistency of wall paper glue. It was food, that was all that mattered at the moment. Afterwards the family laid down for an afternoon nap and the house became silent as they all fell asleep.

Elrond was having a tough day, he had been awakened before dawn by frantic banging and it turned out that it was a local baker who held an unconscious apprentice in his arms. The young ellon had managed to step on a roller and hit his head on the baking oven doors. Elrond was busy for hours with the very nasty cut and concussion and he did fear a skull fracture but thankfully it wasn't that bad, just a huge lump. When that was done a mother came by with a toddler with a peculiar symptom, he was pissing red and the mother feared that it was blood but it turned out that they were growing beets and the kid had sort of helped himself to an unholy amount of the tasty vegetables. He was told to stay clear of the beets for a while and the mother was so embarrassed for having been hysterical and Elrond had to calm her down, which was not that easy since she was a bit insecure and afraid of being a bad mom. Then one of the city gate guards showed up limping and when the foot was examined it was rather apparent what the problem was, a horse shoe nail which had gone straight through the sole of his boot and into the foot. The boots were old and worn and the soles paper thin so it wasn't that odd at all and the soldier was cussing and swearing as Elrond pulled the nail out and cleaned the small wound, the city council were so Eru forsaken frugal they refused to spend money at all! And the guards had to make due with equipment which was already ancient back in the years of the trees.

Now there was just one patient left in the waiting room, he was back at his old clinic for a week only since his sons needed a break and he was surprised by how hard it was to get back into his previously well-known routines, he was out of practice for sure. The university was great and he loved teaching but he felt that he was losing touch with his true self at times. The patient was a young elfling, perhaps three years old who sat on the lap of a rather stern looking elleth, she couldn't be the mother for the kid was blonde and blue eyed and the elleth was a typical noldo with black hair and grey eyes. Elrond stepped in and smiled and the elleth sort of glowered, she did look angry and Elrond tried not to wince, he expected the worst all of a sudden. "You are the healer? Good, this is my grandson, or, he isn't really my grandson for my soft hearted fool of a son and his even more soft hearted wench of a wife decided to adopt this one, a reborn straight from the halls. They already have three wonderful elflings of their own, why bring someone else's mistake into our home hmm?"

Elrond didn't like this elleth at all, someone else's mistake? Who says something like this? If the kid was a reborn then it was most likely some poor unfortunate soul who had suffered a terrible end and chosen to come back as a child with no memories left and that should be respected, not frowned upon. "Ah, I understand, but there is something wrong with him? Is he ill?"

The elleth did glower again, by Eru, even Morgoth would have shied away from that glare. "Yes, he refuses to drink his milk, and throws a tantrum when I make him drink it. And he makes a mess afterwards too, spewing and….well, it is a bad bad mess. None of the other kids act like that. And he always starts screaming and yelling each time there is a thunder storm. He is really acting up and I think firmly that he just crave attention "

The healer felt a bit confused. "Many kids do fear thunder and lightning? It cannot be that bad?!"

She sort of snarled. "Oh but it is, embarrassing is it, and that cow of a wife doesn't do anything to discipline the kid at all. He just rolls on the floor screaming and he won't listen at all. I often end up giving him some medicine my mother told me about but even that doesn't always work, he just yells and shakes and makes the other kids so scared. He ought to be spanked, maybe that would help"

Elrond sighed, that was the description of a full blown panic attack. The poor little one probably died in a battle or perhaps even in Angband and if he had then it was no wonder he reacted badly to loud sounds. "What medicine is that my lady?"

By now the healer had a hard time staying polite and the elleth handed over a note, with no small amount of pride. "This, it always works"

Elrond read the old tengwar, it made him cringe. He knew of this medicine, it was only used in extreme situations and it was never to be administered to a child, it was way too strong and would cause hallucinations and spasms. No wonder the kid went wild, it had to feel as if he was choking every time that woman forced this stuff down his throat. He took a deep breath. "My lady, stop using this medicine at once, it is very dangerous to kids. You have worsened the problem, a lot! He was probably a slave or something, loud sounds trigger a panic attack and you are all making it worse by being harsh and yelling at him to stop."

The elleth didn't look as if she did believe a single word of what he was saying. "But he is so disobedient and he refuses to eat with the other kids, they are starting to act up as well, he is nothing but trouble! He won't touch his milk and he even refuses to eat cheese, he is such a difficult child"

Elrond counted back from hundred, slowly! "So he doesn't like milk at all?"

The elleth shook her head. "No, but every kid needs to drink milk to grow strong and they ought to do what they are told to right? He is so disobedient, a real brat And stupid too, he never listens!"

Elrond had already figured it out. He sat down onto his haunches and stared at the little ellon, he was very pretty and the eyes were those of an innocent child and yet they held a sort of fear within and Elrond recognized it right away. Namo couldn't always remove everything from a soul, some memories and trauma were bound to stick no matter what the lord of the dead did and this was one such example. Elrond smiled, then he spoke to the little one in Sindarin and watched how the face suddenly beamed with joy. This was not a kid who was disobedient, it was a kid who didn't understand since his knowledge of quenya probably was limited to hello and goodbye. "Well, the good news is that he isn't a brat, he simply doesn't understand what you are saying since he is a reborn sindar warrior, probably out of Doriath of old. His panic attacks comes from old memories Namo failed to erase and there is nothing you can do about that except support him, they will fade in time. And he is not used to milk, the sindar back in Ennor didn't keep cows and thus none of them can digest it, it makes him sick. Stop feeding the kid milk and try to learn some Sindarin words and things will get much better right away"

The elleth was just gaping and Elrond felt how his level of irritation made his scalp itch, he wanted to really scold this elleth for being so judgemental towards an innocent one but there was suddenly a banging on the door and he heard voices and realized that no, this day was far from over yet, hooray!

Outside was an elleth who did look very distraught and a couple of Ellyn, they held two horses which were hitched up to a carriage and he did hear moaning and other sounds coming from it. The horses were panting and foaming with sweat, they had been driven hard. The elleth did look very scared. "Please, you must help us, it is my family, they are all ill!"

Elrond took a deep breath, then he became efficient and told the one in charge of the stable there to go and get the current apprentices, he would need help. It was five individuals, three kids and two adults and the adults seemed to be delirious and in agony while the children were almost unconscious and also very ill. Elrond managed to get the sick elves into the clinic and put them onto beds, which wasn't all that easy for the adult male was yelling and screaming and the healer had to tie him down to prevent that he hurt himself or others. The elleth was calmer but she made these terrible wheezing sounds and Elrond was a bit shocked by the severity of the situation. The elleth who came with them was sobbing. "Oh this is all my fault. I fell asleep and the children did make dinner, that is normally my job but I was so tired and I bet they tried to be helpful"

Elrond frowned, the children had been making dinner? Aw crap, that could mean that this was just about anything! He still remembered one incident of his youth with great clarity, he and Elros had been left alone while their foster parents had been off to trade and they had decided to make them dinner. They had thrown just about anything edible within the fortress into the pot and both had been so proud of their accomplishment. When Maglor and Maedhros did return to the house the smell was interesting and the kitchen filled with smoke and soot. Both had eaten, just not to disappoint the two lads but Maglor had turned bright green right away before he raced to the outhouse, like a race horse out of a starting gate. He had been stuck there for two hours before he managed to crawl to his bed where he stayed for two days. Maedhros on the other hand had no problems with it, it was way better than the filth the slaves had been fed in Angband and she could stomach just about anything but she did warn the two lads that any repetition of this experiment would be punished. Food was not to be toyed with. He had to grin to himself, the memory was a precious one and he had heard recently that Maedhros son Rusa had tried to cook too, but since he was a bit dyslectic he had messed up the recipe and created something Morgoth probably would have paid good money for during the war of wrath, they said the neighbours had fled the area to avoid the stench and all the stray dogs of the village had come running, believing that there was a bitch in heat there somewhere.

Maedhros had just laughed but everybody else had been pissed off and Rusa was prohibited from entering the kitchens again until he learned to cook properly. So these kids had made dinner? Oh Eru. He had to find out what they had been making, and with what ingredients. He turned to the elleth who was weeping silently and saw that the previous patient and his grandmother had left the building, good. Elrond didn't want to face that female once again, she had been nasty. "Tell me, what did the kids make?"

The elleth sighed. "Stew, and pie, and a dessert. It was a bit…how shall I describe it, odd!"

Elrond had to laugh. "I do not doubt that my lady, but what sort of stew? They have probably used something which has gone bad, or something not meant to be used as food at all"

She had to think. "The oldest girl did the cooking really, she said she used sausages and potatoes and grain and some vegetables for the stew and the pie had chicken in it I think? And the dessert was some sweet mess I didn't recognize at all but there was raspberries in it."

Elrond tried to think, the five seemed to have stomach cramps but they were also having hallucinations and that didn't really fit with food poisoning. Bad chicken should cause vomiting and stomach cramps, not this? He knew that sausages could cause some really terrible cases of poisoning, a type fatal even to an elf but if it had been botulism they would have been dead already. He smelled their breath, tried to listen to their hearts and he was tempted at sending someone to the home of this unfortunate family to gather the remains of the dinner. "Listen, do you keep any sorts of medicine in the larder? Herbs? Things like paint or …just anything out of the ordinary?"

The elleth shook her head. "No my lord, we are very careful with that. My neighbour did use some sort of rat poison within his larder once and one of the kids found it and got very sick so we keep the larder very tidy, only food is allowed in there"

Elrond sighed. "Alright, that is very wise. But the larder is cool yes? Not warm?"

She nodded vigorously" Yes, it is very cold down there, a bit damp at times but not too bad"

Elrond frowned, damp? That was never good. The father was howling something incoherently and trying to get free from the restraints and Elrond suddenly got an idea, or rather a revelation. He had heard of this sort of problem before, while in middle earth. The mortals had been aware of it and avoided it but there nobody would think about such dangers. "Tell me, where do you keep your flour?"

The elleth frowned. "In the larder of course? In sacks"

Elrond was thinking fast. "Do you happen to have many sacks laying around?"

The female did look puzzled but answered. "Yes? Well, most are placed on the shelves since it is dry up there but we have some sacks on the floor too, the girl did take from a new one I noticed, the old one was almost empty"

Elrond let out a huge sigh, he knew what this was now and he knew how to treat it too. "Listen, go back and throw away the flour in that sack, it is infected with a type of mould, and it is toxic"

She gasped. "Oh Eru's mercy, are they gonna be alright?"

Elrond smiled and patted her on the back. "Yes, as a matter of fact you were very lucky that it was the child who made dinner today, I bet the milk she used was a bit on the sour side and that does counteract the effect of the mould. She did give you all antidote without knowing she did it. They are gonna be fine, I will give them some very sour medicine and then something for the stomach cramps. I bet those are caused by the dessert by the way, too much sugar in this heat is never wise. "

The grandmother was obviously relieved and Elrond got busy mixing medicine. The trick here was to lower the acidity of the body as fast as possible and he did find some fresh lemons someone had bought in order to scrub some utensils with them. Now they became medicine instead and he managed to get the two adults to drink some juice but the kids were a whole different tale. The oldest girl did drink although very reluctantly but the two youngest ones were howling as if he was trying to murder them. Getting the lemon juice into them seemed to be completely impossible, they kept spitting it out and he was wondering how he was going to make them swallow the sour juice. The lad was writhing like a worm on a hook and he found that even a five years old can be surprisingly strong, he had to ask some of the servants to hold the kid and that made him screech so badly it made a ringwraith sound like pleasant singing.

Then Elrond remembered something he had seen Celebrian do ages ago, for some reason the mortals living near Rivendell had been infected with worms and they had given them medicine to counteract this but the kids had refused to drink and just like this little one they did spit it all out again. Elrond had seen how his wife made one kid accept a spoonful of the stuff and before the kid had time to spit it out again she did slap him underneath his chin, which made him swallow on sheer reflex.

Elrond chuckled, this was a day of remembering for sure, he did tickle the boy under his arms and he opened his mouth to howl again, the healer poured a table spoon of juice down the hatch and before the howling kid had time to spew it all out again like a sour fountain he slapped the lad the way Celebrian had done and down it went, the lad did look as if he had been mortally insulted and was glowering so bad it would have made a balrog run for cover. Elrond applied the trick to the youngest girl too and down it went, she was hacking and wheezing but the acidic juice would stop the toxin from the mould from doing any more harm. Things seemed to be going the right way now, he felt very pleased with his work. This family would be alright for sure.

After an hour the cramps had stopped and the adults were back to normal, both shocked and a bit confused by the happenings. Elrond had to explain it all to them, the mould made that flour very dangerous and it had to be burned, just heating the substance in an oven wasn't enough to render it harmless. At least when the oven was set on normal baking temperature. He remembered that some fields back in Ennor had been infected with a sort of fungus which made the wheat rather dangerous since it made people go completely insane. He remembered one case he had heard of from a human healer, someone had eaten wheat with that fungus in it and believed that he was an Oliphant and that he could tear down buildings with his bare hands. It had made Elrond laugh back then but now he realized how serious it had been.

When one more hour had passed by the family was alright and Elrond did draw a huge sigh of relief, finally, the day had to be over now. He sent them on their way with some stomach soothing medicine and then he prepared for a quiet evening. But he had only had time to hang his robes aside before he heard someone banging on the door again and he rolled his eyes with a sigh and knew that nope, today the valar would not let him have any rest. Outside of the door was an ellon holding a small elfling, the kid was pale and sweaty and in obvious agony and Elrond knew it was serious right away. "What has happened, quick, place him on the table here"

The elfling was clutching his belly and moaning and appeared to be almost delirious with agony, the father was in tears and he was trembling "Oh Eru, it is…We are expecting guests, my wife's family from Formenos and my wife wanted to make something extra nice for them, so she got some barley and rye grains and put them in a bowl with milk and honey to swell. But Iaran here managed to open the door to the pantry and ate it all"

Elrond felt cold all over, she had meant to make a very tasty and popular dessert, a sort of porridge but the grains had to swell and soften before it could be used and if the kid had eaten it all before the grains were done swelling the stomach was probably filled to the point of bursting already, and it would get worse. This was life threatening and there was only one thing to do, open the kid up. Suddenly he forgot all about being frustrated and angry, he had to do his outmost to save this kid and it was a dangerous operation since the child already was so weakened. It could be too late, he just prayed that it wasn't.

He yelled for the apprentices to gather the stuff he needed and he just prayed that the sedative he administered wouldn't be too strong. The father was weeping and Elrond shoved him out of the door, he didn't need a distraught parent hanging over him now. The medicine did have a strong effect and the kid was unconscious within the blink of an eye, the apprentices did gather around as Elrond carefully started the procedure. He didn't have time to be careful now, this was a matter of seconds and he knew that this would leave a huge scar but having a scar is better than being dead.

It was as he expected, the stomach was so distended it pushed all other organs aside and he knew that this called for a rather unconventional procedure. He flipped the kid over onto his side and got hold of a bowl which he placed underneath him. Then he told the boldest of the apprentices to hold the body as he opened the stomach with a swift cut. The mass which slowly poured out of the wound was almost like half dried concrete and the healer found a spoon he usually used to remove puss from deep wounds and dug into it as if he was digging for gold. When he finally had emptied the stomach the bowl was full and had been emptied twice, it was unbelievable that a child had been able to eat that much in one go, it had to be the sweet taste which made the lad eat it all. He did stitch the wound back together, the lad was breathing better already and thankfully the stomach hadn't ruptured. Getting the mass into the abdomen would have been fatal, there would have been extensive bleeding and the whole are would have become inflamed. When he was done he was shaking all over, now it was all up to the valar, if the kid was strong enough to pull through he would become very relieved indeed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and told the apprentices to wash the kid with cool water and keep an eye on him, if he did start to sweat it was a bad sign.

Now it was getting late and Elrond was hungry and tired and worried about the poor child, losing a patient this young wasn't something he enjoyed thinking about at all. He sat down with some cold water and hoped by Eru that this was the last patient of the day. He was half asleep when one of the apprentices did come and knocked on the door. "Sire? Sorry to disturb you but…there is a new patient here"

Elrond just knew it, Morgoth himself was governing this day, there could be no other reason behind this misery. He got up, tried to look rested and ready for another go but he felt like shite, this was one infernal day for sure. In the waiting room he saw a very sheepish looking young ellon and a frowning elleth who had to be the ellon's wife. She was obviously angry and stood there with her arms over her chest and her eyes were shooting lightening. Elrond swallowed, alright, what was this about? "I am Elrond, how may I be of assistance?"

The elleth scoffed. "Oh I can tell you how to be of assistance, the whole mess is caused by this empty headed buffoon who is my so called better half, better? More like retarded if you ask me!"

Elrond saw that the ellon was hanging his head and he did have a rather odd posture, what was this? "Ah, what is the problem?"

The elleth raised an eyebrow. "Yesterday this prime example of eldar masculinity and his equally stupid friends got royally drunk at a friend's house and lo and behold, they had an eating contest. "

Elrond tilted his head, no? It couldn't be? Not yet another case involving someone eating something dangerous? It couldn't be true!

"So he ate something less than fortunate?"

She scoffed. "Oh yes, he grasped an egg from a bowl and swallowed it whole, that wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the fact that it was a decorative egg, made from stone! And now it has gone its jolly way through his…tubes, and he cannot get it out!"

Elrond had to bite the inside of his cheek not to burst out into hysterical giggling, a stone egg, stuck back there. That was a new one, even for him. He tried to smile. "Alright, I assume that said stone egg is rather large?"

The sheepish ellon held up a hand, indicating a size between a hen's egg and that of a goose and Elrond managed to stay serious. He was so tired now he found almost everything funny. "The egg is smooth I hope? And egg shaped?"

The ellon nodded, staring at the floor and Elrond tried not to giggle again. "Right, and you swallowed which end first?"

The wife was obviously almost fuming. "The pointiest one, I cannot imagine how he managed to swallow the darn thing in the first place, and why he even tried! Males!"

Elrond was shaking now, with withheld laughter. "Oh but I have heard of way worse objects being swallowed, one ellon I heard of swallowed his own wedding ring"

He turned to the ellon. "So the egg has passed through you and is stuck back..there?"

The poor elf nodded, blushing like mad. "Yes, I…I haven't been able to push it out….it hurts!"

The elleth rolled her eyes. "Oh listen to him, so brave! He swallowed a stone egg, he had to know that everything which goes inn has to come out again right? But noooo! And pain? He complains about a tiny egg, I was in labour for a whole day, trying to push out something way larger than that pathetic little egg!"

Elrond had to laugh, she was right. He patted the ellon on his shoulder. "I am afraid that there is no way out of this young one, you have to push it out"

The ellon cringed. "Oh Eru, it…I can't! Isn't there anything you can give me to make it easier?"

Elrond felt diabolical, and he also knew that the egg had to come out before the ellon got too constipated. "Oh yes, follow me, I can give you something for sure"

He walked into the operating room and found a jar at the back of the closet, he filled a small cup with the brown liquid and gave the cup to the ellon. "Here, drink this"

The elf drank it with a grimace and he put the cup down. "What was that?"

Elrond smiled. "A very strong laxative, you will have no choice now but to get it out"

The elf did look terrified and Elrond chuckled, he winked at the wife. "Now, let us get the pants off him, we have to prepare him for this"

The wife was grinning, sensing that the healer was in her side in this and they got the ellon out of his pants and boots, the poor guy was blushing and did look very uncomfortable. Elrond patted on the bench. "Up on that one, on your knees, head down and rear in the air. I have to check your back passage"

The ellon did gulp but obeyed and did as he was told and Elrond did wash his hands and found a jar of lube. He applied a generous amount to a finger before inserting it and the ellon let out a very undignified yelp and the wife giggled. "Shut up, you have nothing to complain about. The midwife had her freakin hand inside of me when our daughter was born, a hand! That is just a slender finger!"

Elrond felt the egg, it wasn't that large and it was just the fear of discomfort which had prevented the ellon from getting rid of it already. He pulled the finger out and washed again before he grasped a syringe used to administer enemas and inserted a huge amount of lube. He didn't want to torture the poor elf but this was in fact rather hilarious. Before long the need to relieve himself would be overwhelming and then the egg would emerge for sure. Elrond snickered as he got a new bowl and pushed the elf up into a crouch. "Now, just sit there and the egg will be out before you know it. Just push when you feel ready, it won't harm you, in fact you may even feel pleasure"

The elf did look confused. "Pleasure? What are you freaking talking about? I have a goddamn stone egg stuck up me arse, how can that be pleasurable?"

Elrond put on his best teacher expression. "It will push against your prostate as it passes it by, that can give you both an erection and in fact also an orgasm. No shame in that, many do insert objects just to achieve that effect"

The ellon just scoffed and didn't look even a bit less worried than before, the wife was giggling. Suddenly the ellon sort of tensed up and his eyes got huge, he let out a gasp and tried to get back up again. "Ahradan, don't you dare! Stay where you are, if you were brave enough to swallow that goddamn thing you are brave enough to get it out again. "

The wife was glaring at her husband and he whimpered. "But Reniriel, it hurts!"

She pushed her lower jaw forth. "Hurts? Keep complaining and I will teach you what real pain is!"

She turned to Elrond. "He was out playing games with his mates while I was giving birth to our daughter, claimed that he was "too sensitive" to be present, Sensitive my ass, now he is gonna learn a valuable lesson for sure!"

Elrond laughed and Ahradan gasped again and threw his head back, the medicine did work now, the bowels were trying to empty themselves and he did no longer have any control of his muscles. He had to push and now Elrond just stood there, grinning smugly. The elf was sweating, eyes huge and mouth open, and he moaned and groaned and shook and Elrond could see that he was right, the egg was probably pushing against some very sensitive areas inside of the male for by now he did sport a rather impressive erection, which obviously only made him even more mortified.

Elrond patted the struggling ellon on his back. "Come on, breathe, just breathe, relax and then push"

The ellon shook his head. "I don't wanna!"

Reniriel snarled. "You don't have a choice now, come on, I have laundry to wash and there is a ton of firewood which needs to be split."

Ahradan let out a small shriek and rolled his eyes, the spasms called forth by the medicine were strong and he was shaking all over. Elrond did take a quick peak. "Nothing yet, still a bit to go, come on now, bear down with all you have got"

The ellon panted. "Oh…Oh…Oh Eruuuu!"¨

Reniriel giggled. "Oh Eru indeed, how could you be so tremendously stupid? You oaf! But now you are paying the price, and a fine one it is"

The egg was moving but very slowly and Elrond saw that the poor elf was trapped in a very interesting combination of pleasure and pain, some of the panting came from the pressure towards his most sensitive gland and the rest was from the pain of being stretched like that, from the inside. The lube did prevent the egg from causing any real damage and Elrond knew that it wasn't even large enough to tear the muscle, this ellon was just a wee bit squeamish and he felt little compassion towards someone this stupid. But alcohol has caused people to do insane things before, he remembered some gondolindrim who in a drunken stupor did try to marry his own horse, needless to say he wasn't allowed to forget that ever.

A powerful spasm went through the struggling ellon and he arched and screamed and did indeed come, spurting all over the bench and making whimpering sounds of sheer embarrassment. The wife just shook her head, "Think that is embarrassing? Think again! I pissed myself three times when I was carrying our little one, twice at the local market!"

The husband was covered with sweat now and Elrond checked again. "Oh, I can see the he...the end of the egg. Come on, just a few inches more, push and breathe"

Ahradan let out a bellow like that of a dying cow and his eyes were crossed as he bore down with all his strength, the egg did move, slowly but steadily. "Aaaahhhh-AAAAHHH!"

Reniriel rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up you wimp, it is a stone egg for Eru's sake, not a ten pound baby! If you don't stop complaining I will feed you nothing but coarse dark bread for the next year"

Elrond was in tears by now, he fought so hard not to laugh out loud. Ahradan let out a final gasp which rose to a roar which would have made a cave troll run for cover and the egg did slip out of his body and fell into the bowl with a clunk. There was no blood, just lube and Elrond squeezed the ellon's shoulder. "Congratulations, but I have to say, you would make a lousy hen!"

Ahradan just groaned and Elrond found some cloths and let the miserable ellon clean himself off before he had to run for the outhouse, with a peculiar gait and desperation within his eyes. Reniriel was giggling. "Oh by Manwë's eagles, that was precious. He deserved it, he is a wonderful person but so immature at times and he isn't really acting like an adult when he is around his mates."

Elrond did throw the egg into the trash and washed again, he heard that Ahradan was yelling again, his bowels would be clean as a whistle before the laxative stopped working. "This will remind him to remain sober when in the company of equally immature minds. Do feed him just porridge and vegetables for a few weeks"

Reniriel did frown. "Is that needed?"

Elrond shook his head. "Heck no, but just say that I ordered it, he deserves it."

She laughed and grasped her husband's pants and went to help him get dressed. Elrond wiped off the bench with some cloth and used some scented water to remove the scents there and he had to chuckle. It was already dark outside and hopefully there wouldn't be any more patients this day but my oh my, it had reminded him of the days of old. He did manage to get to bed that night without having any more patients and luckily the kid he had to open did not get any infections. The wound did heal very well and Elrond gave the relieved father a list of what the kid could be allowed to eat for the next weeks. He did receive the list with way more gratitude than Ahradan did and Elrond had to snicker when he thought about this day, it had truly shown him yet again how varied a healers day could become, from one extreme to the other within the blink of an eye. And the ellon and the egg became a well-known tale at the university, one which made even the strictest of teacher break down in tears of laughter.


	16. In love and war

Chapter 16: In love and war…

The city square was buzzing with activity, it was a very nice summer evening and the street vendors were offering everything from homemade food to jewellery and cloth. The streets were packed and there were children and animals scurrying around looking for treats. A group of young ellith were wandering through the streets, they were obviously friends and at the relatively same age. All were well dressed and obviously vanyar and they were chatting and giggling as they made their way through the crowd. They were shopping for gifts for a friend who was to get married soon and the talk did revolve around this festive event. They were looking forwards to it and the feast in special since they got to show off their best clothes and maybe catch the attention of some handsome bachelor.

The young ellith did turn a corner and entered a different street where people had put up booths and sold mostly leather goods. There were belts and boots and saddles and even hair ornaments and they stopped by a booth which sold lovely bracelets made from spun silver thread woven together with coloured leather. The bracelets were lovely and each one unique and they started to discuss the price with the seller. One of the girls did walk around the booth to take a look at a small stand covered with earrings and she was focused on that. The others didn't understand anything when she suddenly fell down and they rushed to her side, convinced that she had passed out from the heat. The seller did jump over the table and grasped onto the girl, they all let out a shriek when they saw a pool of blood underneath her and none of them could understand what had just happened. The seller shouted. "Someone, get a carriage, she needs the healer now!"

Elrond was having a very busy day, the summer meant that there was much work which needed to be done and the farms were filled with people. This meant that accidents had to happen sooner or later and by everything holy, they did. Elrond had been awakened way too early by a shouting ellon standing in the street outside of his house. Apparently there had been a nasty accident on the vineyard outside of town and he was needed, urgently. The vineyards were normally not a place where serious accidents did happen that often but now something had most certainly gone wrong. Elrond did get out of bed, got dressed in record time and ran to the hospital like a racehorse out of a starting gate. He was working at the hospital now in summer since the medical academy had taken a summer vacation and he was needed too, this was high season when it came to bumps and bruises.

The injured were a worker at the farm and to his surprise one of the city guards and the injuries were of the cringe worthy type. The other healers there were also arriving with the apprentices and Elrond knew that this would be a challenge to say the least. The accident had happened when they were pressing grapes to extract the juice, the vineyard used a huge mechanism which squeezed the grapes while they were inside of a sort of barrel. The juice would leak out through holes in the bottom and the whole mechanism was powered by a horse pulling a row of gears and axels.

Elrond did see that the poor worker had a leg which had been caught by the part of the mechanism which pushed down on the grapes, the leg didn't look very nice at all. It was broken in several places and swollen and bloody. The poor ellon had passed out but he had been screaming like mad when it happened and that lead to the problem with the guard. He had been there to buy some barrels of good wine for the yearly summer feast which the local administration did arrange for the guards. The horse who pulled the mechanism had panicked and started pulling too fast for anyone to release the tension within the system and the guard had in a moment of not really thinking tried to grasp onto the startled animal. The result was that he had been caught by the reins and since he had wrapped them around his hand the hand got badly injured. The very skin and flesh of two fingers had been ripped off completely and Elrond had heard of de-gloving before but never seen a case of it.

So he went to work, sweating and cussing and using all that he knew about anatomy and his finest thread to attach the ripped off tissue to the hand again. Then he did order leeches to be attached to the fingers every second hour and he was exhausted when they were done with the two unfortunate elves. He had a vague feeling that this only was the start of this day.

He was right, he had just managed to get some lunch into his stomach when a carriage drove into the yard at a breakneck speed. The driver shouted. "Quick, she is dying!"

Elrond did run to the wagon and was shocked to see that a young elleth lay on the floor of the vehicle, deathly pale and bloody and there were several other ellith there, all crying and wailing with fear. The healers did pull the wounded one out and one of the girls sobbed. "She just fell, suddenly!"

Elrond couldn't see any injuries through all the blood so he ordered the helpers to cut the dress off the girl as they carried her into the operating theatre on a stretcher. He had to stop and stare as the cloth was removed, he did see the injury now and his mind was reeling. This cannot be real? This has to be some sort of accident, a bizarre one for sure but just that, accidental?

The shaft of an arrow did protrude from the girl's chest right underneath her left shoulderblade and he saw from the angle that the arrow had come from relatively high up and since very little of it was visible most of it had to be in there. It had come with great force then. And the tip had to be near the elleth's heart, this was absolutely horrible. But he had to consider the circumstances last and her survival first. The arrow shaft told him it was a hunting arrow and that meant that the arrow head was made to create as much damage as possible and a massive bleed. Elrond hesitated, then he asked for his sons to be alerted, he needed others who had witnessed injuries like this before. The other ellith were gathered in the waiting room and they were in obvious shock but Elrond had to ask them who she was and if her family could be reached. He was told that her name was Laurelen and she was the daughter of lord Celebroch of Valmar.

Elrond cringed when he heard that name, he had heard of this person many times. He was the counsellor of king Ingwe and a very important elf, and also very strict when it came to propriety. Nobody would even dare to cuss in his presence. But he did love his family and they said that he was a very fair person although old fashioned.

Elrond sent a messenger off to tell the family of the girl of the terrible thing which had happened and then he had to concentrate on the wound. He was afraid that the wound would cause her to bleed out if he did pull the arrow out and he had to get some equipment he had hoped to never use again. It was a pair of spoon like metal contraptions which were made to slide down along the arrow shaft and cover any barbs on the head so the wound wouldn't be made even larger. But this required that someone was there to stop the bleed immediately and also to stitch the wound up. His sons had inherited some of his abilities and now the twins were preparing for quite a job. If the arrow head had reached the heart it was a wonder she was alive still and more so, the bleeding could become fatal in just a few seconds. Right now the arrow did block its own path and Elrond worked frantically, he did sterilize the area and got the equipment ready and Elladan and Elrohir were waiting for his orders. If they were to save this elleth they had to work in perfect rhythm.

Elrond did shove all thoughts of how this had happened out of his head, he just focused on the wound and the arrow and he nodded to the two. They started chanting, releasing as much healing energy as they could and Elrond started the delicate task of sliding the spoons down the arrow shaft. It was tough, the arrow was lodged against her ribs and her shoulder blade and the gap was very narrow. One of the other healers kept the girl sedated using some of Elronds own recipes and Elrond was soon sweating. This was very tricky and if he wasn't very wrong the arrow had reached the sack around the heart. If he hadn't been there she would be done for!

It took an hour before he managed to get the arrow out and the twins did their best to stop the bleeding and knit the wound back together as he inched the arrow out very slowly. When they were done all three were completely drained and Elrond wasn't sure she would survive even if they had managed to get the arrow out. It could be that the injury had become too old when he got her under his care and that some of the damage couldn't be undone due to this. They did bandage her and placed her in a bed where some of the apprentices were told to watch her carefully. Elrond went to wash off and Elladan did pick the arrow up from the basin into which it had been tossed, he stared at it with dark eyes. "This is a hunting arrow, not something you use for practice shooting."

Elrond turned around. "But it has to be an accident right? Nobody would try to…no, murder is a thing of the past"

Elladan bit his lower lip, staring at the arrow. "If this indeed was an accident the shot must have come from afar, likely from somebody shooting straight up, it is possible but I don't think that is the case. These arrows aren't made to go that far, they start to vibrate and lose their power. I know the craftsman who makes hunting arrows here in the city and this isn't one of his for sure. "

Elrond frowned. "How can you tell?"

Elladan pointed at the fletching. "The local arrow maker does use turkey feathers, these are feathers from a hawk, and the work is sloppy too"

Elrond sighed. "It cannot be that someone has tried to test a bow and lost sight of the arrow? I cannot believe that this was deliberate"

Elladan tilted his head. "Neither do I ada, but it is a possibility"

Elrond felt a cold chill running down his spine, the father of this poor elleth was powerful and he did surely have enemies. Could someone be targeting this family out of hatred or anger? He surely hoped not! The elleth was stabile at the moment so they went to sit down and think, that was when the captain of the city guard did enter the room, and he did look very disturbed. "Is it true lord Elrond? Has someone been shot?!"

Elrond groaned and rolled his eyes. Rantirion was a very zealous ellon and he was as relentless as a bulldog. If he believed that a crime had been committed he would be all over it like a blowfly over a raw steak. "Yes, somebody has been shot but surely it was a mere accident"

Rantirion frowned. "Nevertheless it must be investigated, it is the law!"

Elrond took a deep breath. "Of course, Elladan, show him the arrow"

Elrond did describe the wound and the angle of penetration as Elladan did clean the arrow. Rantirion got a bit pale when he heard who the elleth was. "This could be a politically motivated assassination attempt"

Elrond felt an urge to groan once more. "Then why go for Celebroch's daughter and not the lord himself?"

Rantirion almost sneered. "Because losing a child is much worse than dying yourself"

Elrond had to agree with that statement. Rantirion spun the arrow between his fingers. "This isn't a standard hunting arrow, the fletching is made by an amateur for sure and the shaft is made off very cheap wood, not very durable at all. I bet we can find the one who made this, and that may lead us to the shooter"

Elrond managed to smile. "Well, good luck with that, there are hundreds of hunters in the area, some do make their own arrows"

Rantirion got up and he did a swift salute. "But I have hundreds of soldiers who can go from door to door and ask, I bet I will have the one who made this at my office come the morrow"

He sauntered out of the door looking very eager and Elrond closed his eyes. He was afraid that this could become something very nasty indeed.

At the same time a garden near the gates of Valmar did receive more than its fair share of ruckus. Some deer ran back to the woods and a few pigeons did take flight in a very annoyed manner, what was this noise about? The source of the disturbance was some elves gathered by a small pond and even a blind person could have sensed the tension there. One of the elves was a very young elleth, she was crying and her face puffy and red and she let out some thin wails. Two adult males where there and also an elleth and all three did look shocked and also very angry. The young elleth was holding her hands in front of her stomach and if one did look closely it did bulge, ever so slightly. She was shivering and yet she did hold her head up high and her eyes were shining, not only because of the tears. The eldest male did look as if he was in despair. "Do you have any idea of what you have done? Serelen, you will be the laughing stock of the entire city?!"

The young elleth just stared at them. "I don't care!"

The grown elleth was also in tears. "Oh but my dear child, you…you are not come of age yet! This will be a terrible scandal"

Serelen just snorted and there was pride in her eyes. The other male had to be her brother for they shared the same sky blue eyes. "Sweet sister, you have ruined your future, you will bring shame to the family name for years to come"

She didn't answer, the same stubborn expression on her face and the father sighed. "Right, so, who is the father? You will have to marry him officially of course and believe me, you cannot talk your way out of this!"

She smiled. "Andaner, I love him"

The mother let out a thin wail. "Oh but Serelen, he is high nobility? And he didn't even like you when you met at the summer festival?!"

Serelen still had that odd expression on her face. "He was just pretending, we have met, in secrecy."

Her father closed his eyes. "And you let him…Oh Eru, where did we fail?!"

Serelen raised her chin in defiance. "I love him and we will be a family and everything will be wonderful when the baby is born"

The mother tried to stay rational. "Serelen, how far along are you?"

She didn't even look at her mother. "Three months"

The brother almost gasped. "You must have bedded him just after the festival then, are you mad?"

Serelen almost sneered at her brother. "I don't give a damn, I knew I loved him the moment I saw him, and I knew we were meant for each other. The baby proves it!"

The mother had to sit down. "How did you manage to hide this for so long?"

Serelen just pouted. "You were so busy planning Cevaner's wedding, you didn't bother with me at all"

The mother sighed. "You are right ,we have neglected you but still… Dear daughter, people will think of you as a whore"

The girl raised her head again. "I don't care! I have said it already, I am carrying his child, I am already his wife"

The father did send the mother a swift glance and they walked away from the girl and her brother. "Dear, I will send a messenger to Andaner's family, I cannot believe that a son of a noble man with such a good reputation would bed a girl like Serelen just like that."

The woman nodded. "I agree Cornon, she is hiding something but what? And what are we to do with…the baby?"

Cornon sighed. "As much as I have longed for grandchildren this is not the way it was supposed to happen, but we have been too preoccupied with her brother, we have failed to see how deep her infatuation truly was. "

The elleth nodded. "Yes, she has been obsessed with him, I see that now. So, what are we to do?"

Cornon took a deep breath. "Take her to a healer, to makes sure she is healthy. Her health comes first, the reputation and the rumours last. We have to support her but like I said, I want a word with that ellon and it won't be a friendly one"

She sent him a sad smile. "And yet there is some joy, a grandchild"

He smiled and caressed her cheek. "Yes Fanawen, go now and prepare her for a visit to the healers. I trust you know the best ones?"

Fanawen nodded. "Yes, only the very best for our daughter, and do find out what happened. If he has tricked her into doing it then…"

Cornon nodded sternly and hugged her. "Then I will let all my wrath rain down upon him, fear not my dear."

The elleth kissed his cheek before she went back to her daughter. She was deeply in shock but her maternal instincts did kick inn, she had to make sure that her daughter was alright, then she could scold her for having broken their most sacred rules.

Elrond and the other healers were walking on eggshells now, the wounded elleth was hovering between life and death yet and nobody dared to guess what the result would be. They were sitting in the office when a rather nice wagon pulled by four horses entered the yard and Elrond just knew that this was the father of the elleth in their care. He was right, it was him and his family and Elrond was stunned to see that the wounded girl had a sister who did look almost exactly like her. The girl was obviously distraught and weeping and the father was ashen pale and obviously very afraid. They entered and Elrond did welcome them but he didn't get to say anything beyond well met before Celebroch interrupted him. "How is she, how is my Laurelen?"

Elrond had always held fast to the principle of telling the truth no matter what. "It is bad my lord, I cannot lie"

The tall vanyar did gasp and for a moment Elrond was afraid he would pass out. The girl who had come with him wailed and an elleth who had to be the mother hid her face against Celebroch's chest. Elrond swallowed hard. "She was shot with an arrow, we don't know if it was a terrible accident or something sinister"

Celebroch was heaving for air. "Oh Eru, will you find out?"

Elrond swallowed hard. "We hope to, the city guard are at it right now"

Celebroch did nod. "Good, there is…there is something I think you ought to know then…"

Elrond cocked his head. "Oh?"

The vanyar lord wet his lips. "This is my daughter Findeliel, she is my eldest. She did come of age some years ago and she has been receiving several suitors lately"

Elrond frowned. "And?"

Celebroch did close his eyes for a few seconds, his expression one of pain. "One of them didn't accept her rejection in a very good manner, as a matter of fact I have never seen a more furious ellon ever"

Elrond stared at Findeliel, she did look an awful lot like her sister… "Are you telling me that…"

Celebroch did nod slowly. " I am saying it is a possibility, he was out for her good name and the wealth which follows our family name. I don't think he really did find her all that interesting"

Elrond did bite his teeth together. "Alright, we can only wait and see if Laurelen does survive but I bet that Rantirion is doing his best to find the one who made the arrow"

Celebroch tried to smile. "Then let us pray that he is successful, if someone indeed tried to murder one of my daughters I want him punished!"

The city was rather dark at night, the summer was so light no lamps were lit and the soldiers who went from door to door were often met by elves who had already gone to bed. But they made their way through the streets and Rantirion did visit the district where the craftsmen did live. He did knock on countless doors and finally, after some hours of lots of polite questions and not always polite rejections he knocked on a door and was faced by a small darkhaired ellon with a sleepy face and hair which looked as if he had been blown over by a tornado. "Yes?"

Rantirion did hold up a drawing of the arrow. "Excuse me, but we are looking for whoever made this arrow?"

The ellon frowned. "Ah, that is…As a matter of fact I know who made that one yes indeed I do"

Rantirion felt his heart speed up. "You do?"

The ellon nodded firmly. "Yes, my apprentice Hwarin, he is just starting to learn the art of arrow making. The last batch he made consisted of arrows just like that one and they were so badly made I refused to put them out for sale in the shop. I just threw them onto the garbage heap"

Rantirion did moan. "Oh no, you shouldn't happen to see if anyone has taken some of them?"

The fletcher did shrug. "My wife saw someone snatch some of the arrows yesterday, said she believed that the ellon had to have believed them to be good arrows for he was no ordinary archer for sure"

Rantirion did frown, his mouth was dry. " What do you mean?"

The ellon shrugged. "He was dressed like a noble man, with a very nice green velvet robe and she said that he wore a necklace with several good emeralds in it. And he was dark haired and had a bit of a crooked nose, most definitely a noldo"

Rantirion felt how excitement did rise within him again, at least that was a clue. "I thank you so much for your information, this is very helpful"

The ellon just smiled and Rantirion got back outside and blew his whistle to let the others know that he had gotten the information they all were looking for. Now he was going to find that one ellon with an emerald necklace and a green velvet cape. But first he had to check in on the wounded elleth, he had to know if he was looking for a murderer or not.

The daylight was slowly rising over the horizon as the hospital did wake up to a new day. The wounded elleth was alive still and Elrond was starting to feel hopeful, he knew that if she survived yet another day she probably would make it. The parents had been placed in the guest house and at the moment everything was quiet. He could just hope that the city guard would find the culprit. He was busy writing down everything which had happened when another carriage did enter the front yard, this was not hurrying though and Elrond sighed and crossed his fingers, praying that this was something which could be easily solved. An elleth wearing nice but not overly formal robes did exit before helping another elleth out, they did look as if they were a family and Elrond did notice the body language of the young one and the fact that she had a special expression on her face which to him only meant one thing. She was with child. Finally something joyful, he forced his face into a more normal expression and went to greet the two females. The one who had to be the mother did see him and she smiled but there was something odd about that smile, like she was embarrassed? Then Elrond did notice something crucial, the young one wasn't wearing a ring! He got intrigued right away, what was this?

The elleth did curtsey. "I am Fanawen, wife of Cornon of Valmar. We are running a weaving business"

Elrond nodded. "I have heard of your husband's work yes, he did weave tapestries for the palace some years ago right?"

She smiled. "Yes, this is our daughter Serelen, she…she is pregnant"

Elrond did see that Fanawen got a bit pale as she said it and the girl did look down but her eyes were stubborn and there was something akin to triumph within her eyes. Elrond knew he had to handle this well, the young one could be very delicate and he was after all a healer, he shouldn't really care about how the baby was created, only that it was there. "You want me to check her health right?"

Fanawen nodded. "Yes, if it isn't too much? She has kept it hidden until now, she is three months on the way"

Elrond did stare at the young one, she did show, but only very slightly and he blinked, it was a bit early for that, could she be lying about the age of the pregnancy? He waved his hand to guide the two inside when Rantirion did ride through the gate, he jumped off the horse and did salute Elrond and bowed politely to the two women. "I have news my lord, first, is she alive?"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, she is alive, I have hope she may make it after all"

Rantirion did let out a sigh of relief . "Good, an ellon who makes arrows in the city did tell me something very interesting. His apprentice did make some arrows which were not too good so he threw them away and some nobleman did snatch them from the garbage two days ago."

Elrond tilted his head. "A nobleman? Are you sure?"

Rantirion nodded. "Yes, he wore a very nice green velvet cloak and a rather striking emerald necklace, dark hair, a crooked nose and he was apparently a noldo?"

Fanawen had stood there and she had tried not to listen but now her eyes did open wide and she gasped. "That…that sounds like…"

Elrond turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "My lady, do you know such an individual?"

Fanawen nodded silently and pointed at Serelen. "Yes, the ellon who fathered her child, Andaner of Tirion. He is a noble man, of a family with some influence. "

Rantirion did gape.. "Are you sure?"

Serelen giggled. "He was so handsome in that green cloak, he is mine now, he will always be mine. I carry his heir"

Elrond frowned, was that elleth right in the head? She did sound a bit deranged if he was to be honest. As they stood there Findeliel did enter the yard and she did look nervous as she walked over. "Lord Elrond, how is my sister?"

Elrond smiled. "She is stabile and doing relatively well, she is hopefully going to make it. But if you'll excuse my curiosity, what is the name of the ellon she did turn down?"

Findeliel did look a bit surprised. "Andaner, from Tirion. His family isn't as rich as ours, that was why he tried to pursue my sister"

Elrond heard a strange sound and his reflexes as a warrior did save Findeliel from being attacked by Serelen, she was clawing towards the other elleth. "No, he would never try to woo someone else than me! He is mine! I am his wife!"

Findeliel did gasp and backed off and her father and mother did exit the guest house, Celebroch did frown and he did look rather terrifying. "What is this about?"

Elrond sighed, by Eru what a freaking mess. "Apparently the one who did try to woo your daughter and then tried to murder her has managed to place this young elleth in…blessed circumstances."

Celebroch blinked, then he gaped and blinked again. "That is…oh Eru, that is terrible!"

Fanawen was sobbing. "By the valar, is my daughter carrying the offspring of a kinslayer?!"

Serelen shrieked. "He is no kin slayer, I love him, he is mine! I carry his child!"

Elrond did manage to smile. "Serelen, you are upset and I understand that very well, who wouldn't be, I am sure this is all some sort of misunderstanding but I worry for the health of your baby, being so fired up isn't good for it"

She shut her mouth with a click and Fanawen managed to smile. "Come dear, let Elrond examine you, it is for the baby"

Serelen did send a rather dark glance at Findeliel and her family before letting Fanawen lead her into the building. Elrond told the apprentices that nobody was to enter the room and he did close the door before placing Serelen on a bench. She did hold her chin up and she was glowering at them. "Now, I have to feel your belly to make sure that the baby is okay, is that alright with you?"

Serelen pouted. "Alright, do it"

Her voice was filled with stubborn defiance and Elrond sighed, she was way too young to be pregnant, her mind still that of a youth. Her parents would have to be parents also for this baby. He did wash his hands and then he sent Fanawen a slight nod before placing his hands on the slightly swollen belly, searching for the baby's fana. He frowned, there was nothing there? He searched deeper and yet nothing, not even a spark of life and then he realized something odd. There were moisture on Serelen's dress, in the front where her breasts pressed against the fabric. He got a suspicion but he couldn't air it to them, instead he did use one of his other talents and made Serelen fall asleep. Fanawen did look a bit startled and Elrond did try to smile at her, "My lady, your daughter is not pregnant, as a matter of fact I am rather sure she is untouched"

He did a quick examination of the young one's private parts and she was way too tight to ever have had sex. "Yes, she is a maiden for sure"

Fanawen was gaping. "But…but… she said that…"

Elrond did wash his hands again. "She fell in love with this Andaner didn't she? And she wants to be his wife?"

Fanawen was wetting her lips, her eyes flickering to and fro. "Yes, she…she was a bit obsessed with him but he didn't even look in her direction, we aren't very wealthy my lord, nor are we important in any manner. I guess Andaner is trying to get a wife who is both."

Elrond sighed. "She is suffering from delusions my lady, her desire to become Andaner's wife has been so strong in her she has convinced herself that she IS his wife and that they have consummated the marriage. And to remove all doubt about that she has tricked herself into believing that she is with child too. Her body is changing too rapidly for it to be natural, look at her breasts, she is already lactating"

Fanawen saw and hid her mouth behind her hands. "Oh Eru, what…what can we do?"

Elrond sighed. "She must be healed of her delusions, and I have to get rid of her rather apparent constipation, that is what has caused her belly to swell. I will send you both to the gardens of Lorien, he may heal her mind through dreams."

Fanawen did let out a sort of squeal. "Constipation…."

Elrond nodded and found the equipment needed for administering an enema. "Yes, so no grandchildren yet, but worry not. One day she will meet someone who is right for her"

Fanawen closed her eyes. "Thank Eru, I was afraid she would be married to a murderer, but now she is just a silly girl in love"

Elrond patted her on her shoulder. "Worry not, she will be okay. I will send a hawk with a message to the gardens and you may go to there right away. The earlier she gets rid of her fantasies the better."

He did administer the enema and woke Serelen up enough for her to sit up onto a toilet chair and do her business and it was no doubt that she had been holding it inn for quite a while. Then he put her back to sleep and they carried her off to the carriage. Elrond got a letter from Fanawen to her husband and promised to send it off by hawk right away and then the carriage left.

Celebroch was waiting for Elrond outside of the guesthouse and he did look very confused. "Was that young one really Andaner's wife?"

Elrond shook his head. "No, that was all in her head so she is off to Lorien for some deep healing, but the fact remains. Andaner is a would be assassin and has to be caught and punished."

Celebroch did tilt his head. "His father has an estate here in the city, a sort of palace near the city walls. I am rather sure that you may find him there."

Elrond nodded and sent the hawk with Fanawen's message, then he found Rantirion and informed him of the fact that Andaner could be in the city still. The captain immediately fell under the grip of his own zeal and shouted for a horse so he could go and catch the bastard right there and then. Elrond managed to calm him down and then they managed to make a plan. Celebroch did join them as they rode to the guard headquarters to gather more soldiers and Elrond just prayed that the elleth he had tried to murder would survive. They rode to the palace in a casual formation, as if the soldiers were just out to exercise their horses. The palace wasn't large, it was more of a large villa and not very luxurious but clearly inhabited and they did dismount at a distance from the buildings and did sneak in through the main gate which was ajar.

The stables held two horses and Elrond and Celebroch did sneak forth, behind Rantirion who had drawn his blade and they approached the patio in the middle of the building when they heard voices. Elrond did squint, he tried to tune in on what was being said and it soon became very clear that this was the infamous Andaner trying to impress some female. Rantirion signalled for a full stop and they peeked out behind a corner. Andaner was a handsome ellon for sure, with a clear air of class but his face was arrogant and Elrond did immediately realize that this was a person who didn't care at all about others, all that mattered was his own ambitions. He was sitting on a couch dressed in some very nice robes with the infamous emerald necklace on and he was obviously trying to impress a rather plain looking elleth who was a bit above her first century by the looks of her.

Celebroch did whisper. "That is Laucawen, she is the daughter of one of Finwe's best friends and very…sought after"

Elrond realized that this was one elleth who got lots of suitors but they were all there because of her family, not because of her personality. Andaner was obviously putting a lot of grease on the fire for he was obviously pretending to be madly in love with her and he did suddenly make a move which may have worked on other ellith. At least if they had been infatuated by him, and believed that he indeed found them to be irresistible. He leaned forth and embraced her heftily while trying to kiss her right on the mouth. Elrond could just stare. Not only was this Laucawen not easy to impress, she obviously had some guts and self -esteem in spite of lacking great beauty. She did punch Andaner right in the face and she did have quite a good right one, and it was followed by a left hook which made Andaner tumble from the couch. Rantririon gaped. "Come, let us save our suspect from that fury, Namo will have him but not before the trial"

Laucawen did raise her head when she saw them, she recognized Rantirion and smiled, a very vicious grin. "Oh wonderful, good day to you captain. Have you come to arrest this piece of orc dung for some crime? Marvellous, add attempted rape to the list will you, I will testify! The worm had the nerve to insinuate that I ought to be happy someone is willing to fuck me for my heritage, apparently I am ugly as a mule!"

She spat at Andaner and then she walked out with her head held high and the expression of a queen on her face and Elrond had to admit that she was impressive in her own manner. Rantirion did grasp Andaner and tied him up and the ellon did make some odd mumbling protests and he was obviously rather groggy from the punch. "So, you tried to kill my daughter, not only did you shoot the wrong elleth, you failed in your foul intention"

Andaner was coughing and spat out a tooth. "You cannot prove anything!"

Rantirion did grin, it was a very vicious grin indeed. "Oh but we can, somebody saw you steal arrows from the garbage heap and they will recognize that absolutely ghastly piece of jewellery you are wearing"

Andaner did groan and Rantirion did haul him outside and told the soldiers to bring him to the dungeons and make sure he didn't escape. "There will be a trial in a few days, I will just gather the witnesses."

Elrond nodded. "Then let us pray that Laurelen will make it, we have never had a murder here before"

Celebroch did smile, but his eyes were distant. "That ellon will never see daylight again, the doomsman will have him for sure"

Elrond sighed. "Yes, he is…damaged. Too damaged for Lorien, so his brother Namo will have to deal with this one"

They rode back to the hospital only to meet Serelen's father who had received the hawk and now he too was heading for the gardens but he had to stop by to thank Elrond first. At least there was one there who would be healed in time, he doubted that Andaner would ever become a good person.

Laurelen did stay unconscious for weeks, when she did wake up Andaner had been tried and found guilty at the Mahanaxar and Namo had taken him right away. There had been no doubt about his guilt and several other witnesses had come forth, one ellon had seen him string a huge hunting bow just before Laurelen got shot and another had seen him fleeing the streets carrying what could only be a bow so he had been there beyond any doubt. Elrond was glad the case was solved but Laurelen did fight for her life still. She was very weak and it did take almost a year before she could return to her home, she would have some problems with her back for the rest of her days and yet they were grateful, it could have been so much worse.

Elrond had never encountered an attempted murder before, and it wasn't a case he was ever going to forget. He was just very grateful that he had managed to save Laurelen, Andaner had believed her to be her sister and in his anger he had decided that if he wasn't to get her then nobody would. Love can be powerful but jealousy is even stronger in some people and for the years to come he did mention this case to his students to show how the mind can become warped by its own needs and wishes. And Serelen? She returned from the gardens and was completely healed, within a decade she met a good ellon she really loved and they married and had two kids and she did never again suffer from false pregnancy or anything else false for that matter.


	17. The sticky mess

Chapter 17: The sticky mess

Elrond was humming to himself as he walked towards the small building at the end of the road. His sons had rented it since they wanted somewhere to live where they had some privacy and it was a nice enough place. He had some days off from the university and the hospital and he was heading towards the house with some clothes Celebrian had fixed for the twins. They were becoming good healers and they were already excellent warriors but neither of them were to be regarded as good at sewing. Elrond remembered how much work the two of them had caused, they seemed to tear everything apart and he couldn't count the many times they did return home with their pants in tatters or their shirts reduced to something akin to confetti.

The house was an old one but it was well maintained with a nice patio and a small garden too. It was airy and painted in nice colours and Elrond had liked the place when he first saw it. It wasn't too expensive and the twins did earn money now so they could afford it too. He walked in and raised an eyebrow, the kitchen was located in one of the side wings of the building and it did smell of food there but also a way more foul smell, of garbage. Elrond frowned, some barrels of garbage stood there and they hadn't been removed as they should, a couple of crows did fly off when he got closer and wasn't that a rat?! It was! He cringed and saw that the kitchen looked like an utter clutter. There were dirty pots and pans everywhere, used plates and glasses and there were flies everywhere too. He started to get angry, his sons had been infamous for having been a bit on the untidy side when they were young but this was way too much. They were adults now, and ought to know better.

The inside of the house wasn't much better, it was the worst he had ever seen and he coughed, the smell of unwashed clothing and dust overwhelming. There were clothes left everywhere, he picked a loincloth out of the fireplace and there were boots hanging in one of the window sills. He rolled his eyes, if this was how his sons were living these days he did indeed need to teach them an important lesson. Being an elf and immune to common disease doesn't automatically mean that you can do whatever you like. He did push a small couch away from the wall and he almost jumped on top of it when not one, not two but five huge mice scurried away around his feet, trying to find some new place to hide. Elrond was a patient father, heaven knew that he hardly ever raised his voice at his sons but this? Oh by Eru, this brought back unpleasant memories and he found a chair which wasn't covered with dirty cutlery and sat down to wait for the two Ellyn, sometimes tidiness is needed and he knew way too well the consequences of being filthy. Oh yes, he did remember, he did remember it all!

It had been a long time ago, when he first started wooing Celebrian and he had visited Lindon to copy some old texts rescued from Doriath. He was already working as a healer, he wasn't famous or anything but he did have a good reputation and he did always try to do his best. While he was there he was introduced to a family of humans who lived just outside of the elven settlement. They were rather wealthy and influential and he found that he liked them. The family was rather large with children and grandchildren and the wife of the head of the family did seem worried one day he did visit. Elrond was good at reading people and she was in obvious distress. He asked her and she told him that the children of her youngest daughter kept getting ill. Nobody knew why but the kids were throwing up and they had stomach problems all the time. Elrond was a bit intrigued, he knew so little about the edain and their seemingly endless types of physical ailments, he offered his help.

The woman was very grateful and he was escorted to the home of her daughter. It was a grand place with a very nice kitchen and everything was squeaky clean. The food served there was excellent and Elrond could find no reason why the kids got ill. He did ask all sorts of questions and the mother was answering very well, the kids didn't react to any specific type of food nor did they suffer from any known allergies. Elrond was confused and a bit worried for the kids were lethargic and had lost much weight and apparently nothing worked. The medicine the mother had tried using was good, it should have done the trick and it was only the kids who were sick. The rest of the family were alright although she could tell that her husband too had had some bouts of bad stomach. It had to be something within the house for the kids were rarely eating anywhere else and she was very careful with them, they weren't allowed to eat stuff from street vendors and restaurants and Elrond did understand why. He had seen how easily mortal children did succumb to illness and the idea of such young ones dying of things which did seem so mundane was horrible. He had met human females who had given birth to a dozen children but none of them had reached adulthood. Sometimes the will of Eru was very hard to understand.

Elrond became a person who visited the household every day, for more than a week. They tried changing the diet, they tried some medicine the edain knew nothing about and they even tried healing energy as if the kids were elflings but nothing worked. They got a wee bit better and then they did take a plunge for the worst again. Elrond had lost patients already, due to horrible injuries and really serious cases too, but he had never lost a child to death before and it was a real possibility that this would end with that. In the end he had only one option left, to isolate the kids and both were taken away from their home and placed in the care of the elves. The family he was staying with in Lindon didn't mind and the elleth who was taking care of their elflings did gladly care also for two human kids. And that was when things turned around, completely. In just a few days time both regained their health, the puking stopped and the stomach problems too and they started gaining weight again and the pale cheeks became rosy and round once more.

Elrond was confused, it had to be something back at their home which had caused this but what? By every deity, what?! He went to the home again and this time without the kids present. He did check their rooms, he did check their clothes, their toys, everything. And he found nothing worth mentioning, everything was normal. The kitchen was perfectly clean, the food first class, what was this about? Could somebody be making the kids sick? He knew that sick and deranged individuals did exist and he did fear that this could be such a case of somebody trying to harm the family by harming their kids. He insisted on being present while the meals were prepared and the lady of the house found the demand a bit odd but agreed. The kitchen was manned by humans too, and they were skilled and excellent cooks. Elrond was ready to tear out his own hair in frustration when he overheard a conversation between two of the cooks. One had a son and she visited him everyday and expressed her concern about his living conditions.

Elrond had to ask, he felt that this could be important and the woman explained that her son was suffering from some sort of mental disorder which left him unable to throw anything away. She tried to help him but it didn't work. Elrond was sure he had found the key to the mystery and asked to meet her son and the woman did agree. The son lived in a small house outside of the city and Elrond could smell it from afar, the building was so filled with garbage there wasn't room to move about inside and the resident was so filthy it was hard to tell his skin colour. The man was clearly unstable and deranged and he appeared to live in his own little world but Elrond had cracked the enigma. The woman did touch her son and the filth he was surrounded by every day and even if she did wash her hands before going to work that wasn't enough by far. She was the one who did prepare the food for the kids and Elrond did arrange for the son to be placed in a better home and the building was burned down.

The kids had returned home and remained healthy and he had been rather proud of himself. He had often seen that filth usually caused illness in some form or the other and the edain were so susceptible to ailments. It had been one of the first real enigmas he had encountered, and one he never had forgotten.

He had to wait for a while before Elrohir and Elladan did return home, they had worked at the hospital and they immediately realized that their sire was both angry and disappointed. And they knew why, the guilty glances they threw at each other did tell the whole saga. Elrond got up, he tossed a pair of socks at the two and they were so sweaty they did stick to their robes. "I thought I had trained you better, what is this ha? The house looks like a pigsty, no, a pig is in fact way more fond of cleanliness than this. It is an orcs den, that is what it is!"

Elladan sort of cringed and Elrohir did push a pair of used underpants inn under the couch, discretely. "Ah, it has just…"

Elladan continued. "Gotten out of hand"

Elrond rolled his eyes. "I can see that very well thank you, but this has to stop. The kitchen is a health hazard even to one of the eldar and these rooms? Ghaaa! I have seen barracks which did look much cosier and smelled a hundred times better too."

Elrohir opened his mouth to speak but Elrond raised a hand. "No, no excuses. You both know better than this."

Elladan sighed. "So, what do you want us to do?"

Elrond stared at his sons. "Isn't that obvious? Clean this mess up, now!"

Elladan did look a bit shocked and Elrohir winced. "Ah ada, it is late, we are tired"

Elrond scowled and he knew how to do that rather well. "Doesn't matter, you are treating wounds everyday aren't you? Imagine the infections which this mess can contain? You start cleaning now or I will by the valar have your mother come over"

Both did look very pale all of a sudden and they started gathering used clothing with an amount of zeal which was amazing. Elrond knew just which buttons to press and they would rather die than disappoint their beloved mother.

Water and buckets were found and Elrond did dictate the two around, just the kitchen took two hours to clean out and then there was the rest of the house. Elrond was shocked by what he did find in there, even unwashed underwear which lay right there on the floors for everybody to see. It was a shame and he did scold them thoroughly as he kept them going. The job wasn't done before way past midnight and by then they were exhausted and the house did smell of bleach and soap and it did look like a home again. Elrond made them swear to avoid a clutter like this again, if they didn't obey he would hire a maid to come and clean their house and if that didn't work out he would order them back into his own household since they apparently didn't know how to behave like adults. The mere idea made them swear to never cause a mess again and Elrond was rather happy as he did walk back home. Celebrian was curious as to what had taken so long time but he did tell her a little white lie and said that there had been an emergency at the hospital. She didn't need to know about the mess, at least not yet.

The next day Elrond went to Tirion to buy some medicinal herbs and he did enjoy the day. It was very warm and sunny and he liked searching through the markets looking for rare and special things. He did find some small jars containing a ground up mushroom the avari used to stop bleedings and he was feeling very satisfied for it was hard to come by and also very efficient. He did also find some herbs used to calm anxious people and one which was a very good painkiller. He was singing to himself as he walked along the booths and he did almost jump when he heard a familiar voice. "Elrond? By every vala, it is you?"

He turned his head around, a very tall ellon with long dark blonde hair and a peculiar scar along his jawline was standing next to a booth selling shoeshine and he did recognize him. It was a fellow healer from the wars of old and Elrond hadn't seen him since the Dagorlad. "Hailarion? Is that really you?"

The tall elf did nod and grinned from one ear to the other. Elrond had learned a lot from this one in his youth and the two did embrace. Hailarion did stare at Elrond and he did look rather emotional. "I have heard about you, have wanted to contact you for some years but you know, life does get in the way"

Elrond nodded and saw a wedding band on the ellons finger, he did look very good and Elrond got curious. "You have been re-embodied? "

Hailarion nodded. "Some yeni ago. I am working with animals now, as a sort of vet. My wife is a midwife and we have two daughters who are going to follow in their mother's footsteps"

Elrond swallowed hard. "That is wonderful to hear my friend, why did you change your profession? You were an excellent healer"

Hailarion nodded. "I was, I am not bragging, just being honest but when I returned to the world of the living I had changed a bit. I just couldn't face it anymore, the suffering of others. I prefer beasts, they do not complain and yet there is great satisfaction also in that work"

Elrond patted him on the back. "I agree, but I am still a healer, and I don't think that will change ever"

Hailarion grinned. "Yes, you have a harder core than most Elrond, we saw that often. You would sew up wounds or amputate limbs without hesitating and that is valuable"

Elrond just smiled, a bit shy. Hailarion grasped him by the forearm. "I didn't expect to meet you here my old friend, such a wonderful coincidence. Are you in a hurry?"

Elrond shook his head and Hailarion grinned. "Wonderful, you are as of now invited to dinner at my place. My wife is an excellent cook"

Elrond felt a bit overwhelmed but he did smile and thank the other ellon and he was dragged off by a very enthusiastic Hailarion. He had to tell him about his own family and his everyday life and Hailarion did buy stuff from the elves selling food stuff. Judging by the amount he bought one should expect that his wife would be cooking for an entire army. Elrond had never been to this part of Tirion, it was where the artisans did live and the narrow streets were colourful and he saw all sorts of workshops there, from a violin maker to some elleth who made instruments out of clay.

Hailarion's home was a rather large one with a garden surrounding it and Elrond saw that the ellon probably was relatively wealthy. There was a horse in the stable and also a cow and chickens ran everywhere. Elrond felt a bit self conscious, he was dressed like somebody of importance and power and he didn't really fit into this environment. The wife of Hailarion was a small elleth with a heartshaped face and long black hair put into a tight bun at the back of her head. She did look stern and determined and Elrond did understand that she was well used to giving orders and that she anticipated obedience. Her name was Calriel and she was a noldo who had been born in Ennor but sailed rather early on. The two daughters were both adults and very sweet and also very interested in Elrond's medical knowledge, he did entertain them with some stories as the food was being prepared and he was a bit shocked by the amount Calriel did make. She grinned and started filling the plates. "I have some relatives living here in the city, unmarried ellyn. I do send some food to them each day, just to make sure that they do eat."

Elrond nodded and found out that the stew was excellent and that she indeed was a very good cook. Hailarion did look very happy and content and Elrond was realizing that this was a very harmonic family. They ate and had some wine and Hailarion grinned. "So, have you encountered something odd lately?"

Elrond shrugged. "Define odd? Compared with some of the stuff we did encounter in Ennor things here are relatively tame"

Calriel did sit down and her face was showing her curiosity. "Do tell, you are making me very curious"

Hailarion giggled. "Oh yes, where do we start? Ah yes, do you remember that adeneth who came to us with that rash?"

Elrond cringed, that was one memory he would have preferred to have forgotten. "Oh yeah, I remember her. Who wouldn't? I cannot fathom how anyone could even move looking like that"

Calriel frowned. "Do explain?"

Hailarion smiled widely. "Of course dear. You see, Elrond did train with me and some other healers in Lindon for a while and we had a sort of hospital set up. Everybody was welcome and we had some edain patients, not often but every now and then. And one day this adeneth came to us and by Eru, I have never seen…udders…of such monumental size"

Elrond cringed, he remembered it all. The woman in question was over her first youth and rather obese but the odd thing about her had been her breasts, they were humongous and she wore a tight corset and as Hailarion tried to evaluate the nature of the rash which had appeared on her upper chest one of the straps holding it all together had snapped and smacked him right across his face. Half an inch to the left and he would have lost an eye!

Hailarion did empty his cup. "We did find the cause of the rash, a very cheap piece of jewellery but I have not even seen cows with a rack like that. The guards outside of the building looked as if their eyes were about to pop out."

Calriel nodded. "I did notice that the women of the edain often were…curvy"

Elrond had to grin. "To say the least, I did encounter some dwarrow dams too back in the days and they too could be very busty"

Hailarion leaned back. "And hairy, do not forget hairy. I still have nightmares of that one time when there was a delegation of dwarves visiting Lindon to negotiate trade and I have never seen that much body hair at once"

Elrond laughed. "I remember that yes, and the one who mistook hair removal cream for shampoo, man that was a mess"

The two daughters were listening and laughing too and Elrond felt very good now, he liked this and taking a stroll down memory lane was sometimes needed, to make him appreciate what he did have now. Hailarion refilled his cup, the wine was a good one and Elrond had to ask for the vintage. "I do remember one case in special, the man who wanted to marry his horse"

Elrond almost spurted wine all over the table. "Oh Eru, yes, I remember him, he was…stark raving mad!"

Hailarion nodded. "Indeed, I think he ended up getting stabbed to death, for having tried to seduce a female orc!"

Calriel sighed. "Those were the days, life was unpredictable back then. Here very little does happen"

Elrond did swing a finger at her. "Ah-ah, don't say that. I have seen weird stuff here too, it is just not as common"

Calriel did grin. "Of course, but the weirdness one does encounter can be…extreme!"

Elrond remembered the vanyarin couple he once had met who hadn't realized that you need to have sex in order to have kids. "I agree, it is over the top at times"

Hailarion did leave for the pantry and returned with a sort of pudding and some sauce which smelled of raspberries. "Here, have some dessert, this is a speciality of my wife, almond pudding"

Elrond was impressed, the dessert was just sweet enough and very delicate, if she had started selling this it would have been very sought after. Hailarion was telling Elrond of this odd case he had encountered which involved a cow which always attacked a certain tree out in the pastures when they heard a distant sound which did resemble thunder and the ground did appear to shake a bit. There was a sort of creaking sound coming from the house and Elrond frowned. "Earthquake? There is no such thing here in Aman?!"

Hailarion did get up, he did look worried. "It was far from here I think, but definitely not thunder?"

Calriel did gather the plates and cups to clean them and the two Ellyn went outside, there was a sort of dark cloud hovering over the city to the east of them and Hailarion did raise his hand to blot out the sunlight. "That is smoke? And dust?!"

Elrond got a sinking feeling in his chest. "Oh Eru, I think something bad has happened!"

Hailarion nodded. "Yes, I think so too, that jolt we felt? Come, people may need help"

Hailarion ran back inside and found a sort of box containing healing equipment and then the two of them ran. It soon became apparent that something indeed had happened and it was bad. There were elves running everywhere and many were in a state of slight panic. The source of the commotion seemed to be the market area and Elrond got very nervous indeed. It was usually packed with people at this time of the day and what in Eru's name had happened?

When they reached the market it became all too clear what the sound and the shaking was all about, there were three huge warehouses there, large open buildings used for storing things which were to be sold at the market and two of them had collapsed. One was completely demolished and the other one was sort of leaning against the remains of the first one.

The area was turned into something Elrond couldn't even describe, a thick layer of flour covered everything there and some elves were stumbling around resembling ghosts, only their eyes were visible in all the white. And there were also a veritable cloud of feathers swirling around, somebody had probably brought a load of feather pillows to the market and the crash had ruptured them. But the worst thing was that the ground was covered with a more than one foot thick layer of something extremely sticky and gooey. The smell was overwhelming and Elrond realized what it was. The collapsed warehouse had contained two huge silos used for storing molasses and the silos had ruptured completely, spewing its content everywhere. It was a complete mess, building materials, all sorts of merchandise and stuff mixed with flour and molasses and the feathers rained down over it all like some sort of pillow. There were fruits and vegetables, some chickens did try to free themselves from the goo and some elves came staggering carrying some bunnies which were covered with molasses.

Elrond did just stand there and blink and he didn't even know where to start, there had to be elves who were injured or even trapped within the ruins but he was simply in shock. Hailarion did get a grasp of himself, he did grasp onto an elleth who were trying to leave the place in spite of being completely covered with flour and molasses. Elrond did doubt that even Morgoth could have conjured up a worse scene. "What happened?"

The elleth was wailing, obviously in shock and confusion. "The wall, it fell and the entire building just fell into itself!"

Elrond had to close his eyes and count to ten, slowly. "Right, Hailarion, see if there are any city guards near by, we are gonna need some help, and if there are other healers in the city they have to be notified. This is ugly"

Hailarion took off and Elrond took a deep breath and forced his way through the mess. He didn't come more than a few feet before he was stopped by the goo and he swore and tore off his long robes. He kept struggling forwards wearing only his pants and tunic and he soon encountered the first victims. It was two Ellyn who came waddling, one with a broken arm and the other one had a head injury from being hit by a falling beam. Elrond saw that neither of them were in mortal danger there and then and he ordered them to get out of the disaster area right away. The one with the broken arm was sure that at least twenty elves had been inside the building as it collapsed, the other building hadn't fallen all the way and the people inside of it had gotten out but many got caught by the torrent of molasses.

As he got closer to the ruin the layer of molasses got thicker and stickier and it became close to impossible to move. A whole herd of sheep had been caught by it, the animals were bleating desperately and tried to free themselves from the sugary substance but it had gotten into their fleece and he had never seen a more bizarre sight, twenty sheep merged into one huge lump of fleece and feathers. There was a section of the market reserved for the sale of livestock and he was close to that now. There were pens with animals in them and some elves were already trying to help the poor beasts. Some of the animals were rather stoical, he saw a cow who was eagerly licking away at the molasses and a huge draft horse stood there with molasses up to its belly and was chewing away at its flour covered hay. A bunch of goats were roaming free, the light animals were not sinking very deep and they did contribute to the mayhem by letting out some wailing sounds which did resemble a crying infant. It was eerie.

The city guards did descend upon the scene like a horde of vultures over a carcass but they too were struggling. One of the officers were roaring orders and they started to evacuate the ones who hadn't been injured and Elrond did team up with Hailarion to get access to the ruins itself. The building had disintegrated, no other words could describe it. It was a mess of beams, boards and crates and he did hear moans and screams coming from the huge mass. He had fought bad odds before and did bite his teeth together as he did force his way through the sticky goo. The area was dangerous beyond any doubt, the ruin critically unstable and he wondered what had caused the collapse in the first place? The ware houses were supposed to be sturdy?

He did find an elleth trapped underneath a beam, she was barely breathing and he suspected that she was severely injured. Hailarion did come up with an ingenious manner of retrieving the wounded, he found a small sled of the sort the elflings used in winter and if one covered the bottom with flour it did not stick quite that hard to the molasses. Elrond and Hailarion did push forth, they did triage on site and sent some of the victims off to the hospital while others had to be treated there and then. Elrond was in healer mode now and he didn't think about the fact that he did look like some sort of ancient wraith, covered with molasses, flour and feathers. The injuries were mostly fractures and crush related, they did find two dead and he did fear that some of the injured would die too. Many had severe head injuries and one ellon had gotten an arm torn off at the shoulder, it was a horrific injury.

As they made their way through the mess they did smell something odd, and it wasn't pleasant at all. As a matter of fact it did stink to high heavens and the molasses became darker and the smell brought tears to everybody's eyes. The area did look as if something had exploded and soon the stench was so strong Elrond had a hard time moving forth. He had encountered orc caves which smelled like roses and violets compared with this. Hailarion did puke, he was green in the face and Elrond fought his own urge to retch. There were no injured elves in this part of the ruin and they fought their way back towards the edge of the mess. The injured were being taken care off by some of the neighbours and the city guard kept all the curious elves away, they didn't need for anyone else to get in there and get hurt. Elrond had to help several of the victims there and then and for a while he was completely occupied with the job. He and Hailarion had worked together before and were a good team and Hailarion hadn't lost his touch. He did also take care of some wounded animals, including a pig which was squealing like a ringwraith the whole time.

The guards did put up a barrier around the entire market and tried to get a better view of the situation and it was a grim one. The entire market place was covered with molasses, flour and feathers and the odd dark substance kept seeping forth adding its own not so very charming nature to the situation. Elrond did finish with the last patient who had to be taken care of there at the scene, it was a young elf who had gotten hit by a crate and had a broken shoulderblade and several broken ribs. He tried to get rid off all the goo on his hands but it was futile, it was like glue and he wondered how they were going to get rid of the molasses. One of the officers did approach him and the ellon was cussing and tearing off his cape, it was covered with molasses and hang like a wet towel from his back. "This is some goddamn shit, Eru curse it! How many dead?"

Elrond shrugged. "Two, but I suspect that there are three of the injured who may not make it through the next day. The injuries were severe. "

The officer sighed. "What are we to do with this? The king will freak out for sure, and what in Tulkas hairy balls is that infernal smell!"

Elrond had no idea, but one of the wounded did raise his head. He was completely covered with molasses and they had just wiped him clean where they put the bandages. The staff of the hospital would have to warm a lot of water for this, and Elrond wondered if the stuff was dangerous for the skin. Probably not, but it couldn't be good for it either. "I saw what happened"

The officer ran over. "You did? Oh do tell please, if somebody fucked up and caused this then by Eru, there will be hell to pay!"

The wounded ellon made a grimace. "It was the innermost molasses tank, it exploded!"

Elrond frowned. "How can a tank of molasses explode? Did it ferment?"

The ellon shook his head. "No, I work here and the stench you feel? I think I know what has happened. The tank hadn't been cleaned before they poured the molasses into it"

The officer did look a bit green, they got a strong whiff of the scent and it was truly horrifying. "Do explain"

The ellon nodded. "The tanks aren't used for molasses in the summer, the beets have to be ripe before they are filled. I know that some telerin merchant did store fish sauce in the tank last spring and I don't think it was emptied. That sauce is a telerin delicacy and they may keep it too, it is disgusting"

Elrond gaped, of course, that was the clue. Fermenting old fish sauce which got mixed with molasses, it would have become a bomb rather fast. A stinky one too!

The officer groaned and turned around to run and Elrond saw him dive inn under a table and empty his stomach rather violently. He wasn't the only one feeling that need. The tank had to have knocked out the wall and then the rest of the building did follow, what a complete and utter mayhem. Things got organized, the surviving livestock was taken care off, the sheep had to be cut free from each other and the chickens were soaked with molasses and would need to be washed several times. Then some did remove the merchandise which wasn't damaged and that left them with the scene itself. The market was huge and with booths and everything it would become a monumental task to clean it all. Elrond didn't care, he got hold of a horse and rode back to the hospital and he didn't care that he did look terrible now. Hailarion did follow him and they worked well into the night to save as many as possible. The entire hospital did stink of molasses and the ones in charge of cleaning the place were in tears. Removing the molasses was almost impossible, it did stick to everything and even the best soap didn't really do anything about the problem.

Elrond was so tired he did fall asleep in a chair when he was done working and Hailarion did crash on a couch and snored like a cave troll. Celebrian did come to the hospital that morning, worried about her husband and she just stopped and stared. Neither of the Ellyn had cleaned themselves, they were still covered with flour and goo and feathers and she almost screamed. Elrond did wake up and since the molasses had sort of solidified he did fall to his knees since his pants legs had become inseparable overnight.

Celebrian did first weep, then she did laugh and then she cried a little again and the entire city was in a state of emergency now. They were trying to remove the goo but it would take weeks. They did lose one patient and Elrond was very sad due to this but he hadn't expected everyone to make it and it could have been worse. Elrond spent several hours in the baths trying to get rid of the goo and in the end Celebrian had to cut away some locks of his long hair in order to get it all out. He did not enjoy that at all! Hailarion did return home but not until Elrond invited him and his wife and daughters to his own home for dinner. He didn't want to lose contact with the ellon, Hailarion had a lot of experience and he wanted to learn more from him. Also, the two daughters were not wedded and his sons ought to settle down soon, he didn't say anything about this though but he had some ideas.

When Elladan and Elrohir did come to work that morning Elrond did hug them and told them that they didn't need to worry about the cleanliness of their home after all, nothing they did would ever compare to the sticky mess he just had experienced.

The city council did struggle with the mess for months, even when the molasses and fish sauce and everything else was removed by using shovels and wheel barrels the place did still stink and the city was struck by a heatwave which made the stench spread all the way to the royal castle. That caused the nobles to almost rebel against the valar for not doing anything about it but the answer was that this was something which was way below their dignity. They didn't deal with such mundane matters at all. The injured elves did recover and the ware house was rebuilt but from now on there was a law against storing any sort of fermentable liquid inside of it. When the autumn came the heavens opened and unleashed the worst torrential rain anyone had seen in ages, it did wash the market square relatively clean but the fishermen down the rivers from Tirion could report about fish behaving oddly for days afterwards. The fermented molasses had its effect on them for sure. The beet farmers did find a different place to store the molasses which were to be sold as animal feed and the sticky mess was a one time event but not one anybody would ever forget. And if Elrond did mention that perhaps his sons ought to clean their house they just made him remember his own words. Nothing would ever surpass that one really sticky mess.


End file.
